


Sunday baseball

by pasty



Category: Ookiku Furikabutte | Big Windup!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Asexual Character, F/M, Fluff, M/M, Slow Burn, as in abe and suyama, brief appearances and mentios of ocs, by ocs i mean new players at nishiura, honestly for all other relationships besides abemiha you need to squint real hard
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-03
Updated: 2016-05-24
Packaged: 2018-03-16 03:33:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 32,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3472901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pasty/pseuds/pasty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One fine hangover morning, Abe finds himself crashed on the wrong couch.</p><p>Basically a 'what if Mihashi didn't go to Nishiura and quit baseball after junior high and met Abe and the team by chance at university' AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One floor down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i severely underestimated the gay this series had. stressing the word severely. it took me only a few episodes to start spiraling down abemiha hell and catching up with the manga landed me at the bottom of it.
> 
> i got some inspo from [this post on tumblr](http://tokiosunset.tumblr.com/post/105774914690/)
> 
> and in the span of couple of minutes i managed to blow my idea up to whatever this is.  
> maaaaan i'm bad at naming my fics and the chapters pffff

 

 

_Thwack._

  The ball hit its target, the net giving in, and it dropped on the ground with a soft thud.

  Mihashi Ren was standing across his target, a small pond between him and it. Picking up another ball and grasping his fingers around it, he stretched his body and pitched again.

_Thwack._

  It had been three and half years since he had quit. He was now almost half a year in his first year of college, and he had kept pitching all that time. He had pitched three and half years to his target, keeping up his control of the ball. Three and half years since he had last pitched to a catcher.

_Thwack._

  He had kept his promise to quit playing, but he couldn't let go of pitching.

   _Thwack._

  When he ran out of balls to throw, he walked around the pond and collected the balls to a small bucket.

  Multiple buckets later, he decided to stop for the day. It was getting too dark even with the light on the porch anyway. He collected the balls one last time, stretched his arm and went back inside.

 

\-----

 

''I'll see you next week, then'', Mihashi's mother said to him as he stood next to her car, the driver's window rolled down. She gave him a wide smile, which he returned. She moved her hand from the wheel to her son's hair, ruffling his blond hair.

  ''Bye bye'', she said fondly.

  ''Bye'', Mihashi answered and watched for a moment as she drove off. After her car disappeared from his sight, he turned around, his bag hanging heavily against his back. Walking quickly, he glanced around the campus and the students roaming it, until he arrived at the dorms. Catching his keys from the kangaroo pocket of his hoodie, he opened the front door and jogged four stories up. It was mainly quiet, just his keys clinking in his hand and occasional sounds from the rooms. Somebody was vacuuming on the upper floor. Mihashi stuck his keys to the lock of his room door and pulled it open.

  His room was mainly in order, save his shoes in the doorway and dirty clothes mainly piled around the hamper, instead of being inside it, and the small pile of dishes in the sink.

  He placed his bag onto the kitchen table and started unloading it. Books and his laptop he placed on a pile onto the table, while he took the charger for his phone into his bedroom. The final item in the bag, his baseball glove, he placed gently on the shelf next to his couch. He left the emptied bag onto the table as he'd need it tomorrow for school.

 

\-----

 

Alarm at seven in the morning. Brushing of his teeth and washing his face. Changing from his pajamas to clothes. Simple breakfast. Classes starting from 8:30. Lunch around noon. Last class ending around four. Dinner in his room, cooked by himself in the small kitchen. Homework. Killing time. Supper. Shower before going to sleep.

  That was Mihashi's daily routine, which he repeated with little differences on every weekday. A couple of times a week he'd collect his dirty clothes and take them down to the first floor and use the washing machine and the tumble dryer in there. Sometimes when he had time he took his glove, a ball and a piece of chalk and went outside behind the school building, near the back fence. There was a secluded, almost hidden spot under an overhang where he could draw a large square divided into nine equal parts on the light brown wall and use it as a target for pitching.

  He visited his parents every other weekend, taking the two and half hour ride on a bus. Usually his mother took him back to school on Sunday, but when she couldn't for some reason, he took the same bus back.

  His routine was disturbed around the middle of August.

  On Monday morning, when he woke up at seven like usual and dragged himself out of his bed, he was surprised by shoes and a jacket which didn't belong to him. He saw them thrown on the wooden floor in front of the front door as he closed the door to his bedroom behind him. He could feel his whole body tense up and his heart rate kick up. He stood still, staring at the unknown clothes. He could hear soft shuffling for a second. Slowly and silently, Mihashi went around the corner, seeing a keychain, phone and a wallet thrown on his kitchen table. Keeping his feet in place, he leaned in further to see somebody sleeping on his sofa. That somebody had taken the thin blanket, usually set onto the back of the couch, and thrown it onto themselves. Silently, Mihashi took a few steps closer and saw a black mess of hair peeking under the blanket.

  His nose crunched as he smelled stale alcohol.

  Trying to figure out what to do, his mind going mile a minute, Mihashi was startled by the sudden blare of an alarm. The snooze on his alarm clock, which he had forgotten to turn off. Scrambling back to his bedroom to silence it, he could hear grunts emerge from the sofa.

  ''Turn it off, Sakaeguchi''.

  Mihashi almost slammed his alarm clock off the small table it was placed on. He didn't know what to do. There was somebody he had never seen in his life on his sofa.

  ''Since when you've had a new TV?'' the stranger asked.

  After not getting an answer from Mihashi, the stranger called out again with a name that wasn't his.

  He walked back out of his bedroom, peeking around the corner cautiously. The stranger was now sitting on the sofa, the blanket shoved to a pile on the sofa with the two pillows that he had been using.

  ''Hey, Sa-''.

  Mihashi was leaning against the corner, half of his upper body visible to the stranger, his heart in his throat and stomach curling up.

  His short black hair was a mess, standing on it's ends. He had a t-shirt and jeans on and a hoodie was on the floor next to the sofa. His black eyes blinked a few times at Mihashi.

  ''Oh,  _shit_ ''.

  Mihashi twitched a little, fingers gripping the corner harder. His knuckles whitened.

  ''I-I thought this was my friends room and-'', the boy on Mihashi's sofa started, but cut off his sentence before trailing off completely.

  ''I'll just-'', he said. As he tried to stand up, his face fell to a harsh grimace and he fell back onto the sofa. He hissed a silent curse as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

  Mihashi swallowed before slowly letting his grip loosen from the corner and trodding to the sink. He turned the tap on, letting the water flow until it was cold, and took out a clean glass from the cabinet. After filling it up, he walked to the boy with cautious steps. His offering was accepted and he drank it all in one go. Mihashi took the glass back and watched as he continued pinching his nose, grimace stuck on his face.

  ''D-Do...'', Mihashi started, swallowed thickly, and continued with a weak voice: ''Medicine?''

  The boy glanced up at his face, his grimace loosening lightly.

  ''Please'', he huffed.

  As Mihashi scurried back to the sink and opened another cabinet to take out a sheet of pills, he spoke again.

  ''I'm Abe Takaya, by the way''.

  Mihashi filled the glass with water again and gave it and the medicine to Abe.

  ''M- Mihashi'', he stuttered, ''Ren''.

  ''Thank you'', Abe said as he took the water and medicine, checking the sheet for how strong it was. He popped two pills into his hand and gave the sheet back to Mihashi, who shuffled back to the sink and stayed there. He watched silently as Abe put on of the pills into his mouth and drank it down with small amount of water and repeated the process. He drank most of the water after taking the pills, then pressed the cool glass against his temple. His grimace softened considerably.

  ''Your... friend'', Mihashi said. Abe opened his eyes to look at him, his brow furrowing slightly. With that, Mihashi tensed up again and moved his eyes from Abe to the floor.

  ''Lives h-here?''

  Abe sighed a little, turning to look at his things on the table.

  ''Yeah''.

  He lifted the glass from his temple, drinking rest of the water, and stood up slowly. This time he only winced a little.

  ''You a student here?'' he asked from the blond, walking to the table and setting down the glass with a clack.

  ''Y-yes''. Mihashi's eyes flickered between Abe and the glass on the table as he spoke. He lifted his hands to wring the front of his shirt a few times.

  Abe took his phone into his hand, lighting up the screen. He had two calls and four messages from Sakaeguchi, varying from 'When are you coming' to 'Did you fall in the stairs'.

  ''Which year?'' Abe asked, glancing at Mihashi.

  ''F- irst'', Mihashi hiccuped.

  ''The same as me, then'', Abe hummed, ''I'm a first year here too. I live off the campus, though''.

  Mihashi wrung his shirt a little stronger for a moment before piping up.

  ''W- why we-... drunk?'' he asked, causing Abe to stare at him for a couple of seconds, trying to wrap his head around Mihashi's broken sentence. He decided that the key word was 'drunk'.

  ''An old teammate and friend of mine turned 18 yesterday. We celebrated with the old team'', Abe said as he shoved his wallet into the back pockets of his jeans.

  ''I suppose I have a much worse alcohol tolerance than I initially thought'', he huffed in a quieter voice. He did remember how much he had drank, two long drinks and three beers if his memory served him right. His brow furrowed again a little bit.

   _Is that a lot or is that little?_

  He mentally shrugged off the thought, as he didn't have that much experience with alcohol. Besides, he had taken about as much as everybody else. Or he was just the type to get hangovers easily.

  As Abe turned around to grab his hoodie off the floor, his eyes settled on the baseball glove placed on the shelf. He took his hoodie and turned the sleeves right way out.

  ''You play?'' he asked as placed it onto the table next to his phone and keys.

  He could see how Mihashi seemed confused at first, then realizing he had meant the baseball glove on the shelf as he lightly jerked his head towards it.

  ''N-No! I don't... play'', Mihashi yelped, voice quickly dying down near the end.

  Abe could feel a slight irritation at the back of his head.

  ''Then why do you have a glove?'' he asked, sounding a little aggressive even to himself.

  Mihashi's hands wrung his shirt stronger, knuckles whitening and leaving clear creases onto his shirt. His eyes were glued somewhere on the floor between him and Abe.

  ''I- Not... anymore'', he said, almost whispering. He pulled his hands, stretching the fabric.

  ''Why? Injury?'' Abe asked, turning to face Mihashi and leaning against the table.

  Mihashi kept wringing his shirt, not answering Abe's question. Abe sighed through his nose, a little irritated.

  ''You know, the team I was with yesterday- we played baseball in high school'', he huffed, his tone hard.

  No reaction. He took a good look at the blond in front of him, trying to gauge his physical capabilities. He was a bit thin, at least compared to Abe himself, but he did have well formed muscles. Still, it was hard to try to guess how the boy had looked like over three years ago.

  ''What position did you play?''

  More shirt wringing.

  Abe sighed again, more softly this time. He decided to give up on prying information from the blonde, and was about to open his mouth to say his goodbyes and leave, when Mihashi finally answered.

  ''P... Pitcher''. Mihashi's voice was weak, a whisper in the silent room. He had stopped wringing his shirt but his grip was much stronger than before. He'd ruin his shirt in the matter of minutes.

  Abe let out a short, mildly surprised sound. With it, Mihashi started to wring his shirt again and opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Abe thought about Oki, who had become their pitcher for their first year as their newly formed hardball team didn't have a single pitcher until a year later. There was some similarities between the two, at least if he thought about it hard enough. He shifted his weight a little against the table.

  ''I was the catcher'', he said and he could see how the boy's grip tightened even more for a second, if it even was possible.

  Then, Abe's phone screen lit up on the table. He didn't remember putting it on silent. He glanced at the blond hair in front of him hiding the boys face effectively before answering.

  ''Abe''.

  ''So you're not dead in a ditch'', Sakaeguchi huffed to Abe's ear.

  ''No. You going to class today?''

  He got a yes as an answer.

  ''Can I borrow your shower?'' he asked.

  ''And maybe some clothes''.

  Mihashi half-listened what Abe said to the caller, letting it in on the other ear and out the other. His main focus was on his hands, tightened around his shirt. His jaw was clenched shut now, teeth gritting against each other.

   _I'm no good anyway._

  That was what he had intended to say, but hadn't managed. To be honest, he didn't know if it was a good or a bad thing.

  ''What floor is this?'' Abe asked from his suddenly, causing Mihashi's eyes to shoot up at him before falling down, somewhere past his chest.

  ''F- fourth''.

  With that, his attention was returned to the boy in front of him.

  ''Fifth floor?'' Abe huffed, ''Okay, be there in a minute''.

  He ended the call and and collected his possessions from the table. He strode over to the front door, Mihashi following behind with slow steps.

  ''Thanks'', Abe said as he picked up his jacket and shoes. He didn't bother putting them on, as he would only go one floor upwards where he was being waited on.

  He placed his hand on the door handle, turning to look at Mihashi, half hidden behind a corner.

  Abe bit on his lip for a fraction of a second, glancing at the floor, before trying to catch at least some eye contact with the blond. As soon as he managed it, Mihashi turned his eyes away, at least for a second or two.

  ''I'm sorry for crashing your sofa'', Abe said, earning a mild headshake from Mihashi. For a moment neither of them said anything and Abe could feel the slowly increasing awkwardness filling the space between them.

  ''See you'', he almost huffed, pushing the door handle down and cracking the door open.

  ''See you'', Mihashi repeated, though with a much quieter and weaker voice.

  With that, Abe was out of the door. The door slammed shut behind him, leaving Mihashi in complete silence.

 

\-----

 

Abe ran up the stairs, seeing Sakaeguchi hanging in his doorway as he stepped off the last stair and lifted his eys from his feet.

  ''Where were you?'' Sakaeguchi asked, stepping out of Abe's way and letting the door slam shut behind them. Abe glanced at him for a moment, seemingly thinking if telling him was worth the hassle.

  ''Wrong floor'', he finally huffed.

  A blank stare from Sakaeguchi made him grimace a little.

  ''Wow''.

  ''Woke up on a stranger's sofa''. A second more of the blank stare, then a wide grin and loud laughter.

  ''I need a towel'', Abe huffed, somewhat trying to get his friend change the subject even for a second.

  Sakaeguchi suppressed his laughter more or less effectively, sputtering here and there as he grabbed a clean towel from the closet.

  ''How did you manage that?''

  Abe just shook his head as he took the towel from him.

  ''I wasn't even that drunk'', he said. When he had finally left Tajima's place, he had been feeling the alcohol, yes, but not like he was even near to passing out. He shook his head in confusion and closed himself into the small bathroom to shower before dragging himself to classes.

  After washing his hair with at the very least dubious shampoo, he stood in the shower, enjoying the warm water rushing down his head and back. He let himself relax for a moment, emptying his head from any thoughts. A couple of minutes later he scrubbed himself clean, shut off the shower and dried himself off. He wrapped the towel around his waist and grabbed his clothes, stepping out of the bathroom and seeing Sakaeguchi in the corner of his eye from the open door to his bedroom.

  ''There's a shirt and pants for you'', he said, sitting on the edge of his bed and pulling on socks.

  ''Mmhm'', Abe hummed and closed the bathroom door, going to the sofa he was supposed to sleep on last night. The seemingly old black shirt was a little snug on him, but it fit well enough. The light gray sweat pants were big enough if he ignored the fact that the legs only reached a little above his ankles.

  ''So whose room you crashed?''

  ''I don't know, never seen him. Mihashi Ren if I remember right''.

  Abe couldn't hear an answer, most likely because Sakaeguchi was rattling his brain with the name.

  ''Don't know him. Did he get mad at you?''

  Sakaeguchi finished his sentence as he appeared behind the corner. Abe shook his head at him. He remembered Mihashi's white knuckles, fingers wringing his shirt into clear creases and fidgety appearance in whole. During the time he was in Mihashi's room, they kept up barely any eye contact.

  ''More like he was scared'', he huffed.

  ''Well, with your face I wouldn't be surprised'', Sakaeguchi said, grinning playfully, and got a frown in response. He chuckled a little before going to pull on his shoes.

  ''Come on, we got to go''.

  Abe followed him, wondering for a second if he really had seemed intimidating to the blonde before forgetting the thought as the door slammed shut behind him and Sakaeguchi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ''what the fuck is this word in english''  
> ''what the fuck is english anyway''  
> *has to check some sort of grammatical thing because scared it's wrong and it's right anyways*  
> ''is this even a word and if it is does it actually mean what i think it means''  
> *gets distracted every 5 minutes by tumblr, dog or cat*  
> my basic writing process is so much fun and takes so little time pffff
> 
> i just realized i can't imagine new locations at all, everything is based around an actual location, if not a copy of it...  
> like mihashi's place is a copy of my itty bitty apartment and his school is loosely based around one uni i've seen in pictures  
> what is imagination, i do not know.
> 
> embarassing grammar mistakes and typos may be possible as i got the idea for this around three in the morning and now its almost eleven and nope i haven't slept at all.


	2. Battery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much for all the kudos and comments and first of all even giving this fic a chance and reading it!! ;w;
> 
> this fic swallowed me whole. when i'm not writing more to this i'm desperately wanting to and i can't stop thinking about how i'm going to continue the plot and coming up with scenes i want to do. fffffrick. all i need to do is put on headphones and put on my music and just write a bunch, which doesn't happen that often. for some reason this is really easy to write for me haha
> 
> i'll at least TRY to update this once a week, tho i can't make a definite promise with school going as it is and my mom breathing down my neck about me graduating and getting real mad about me pushing my graduation further away.  
> god i really want to keep this on a weekly or at least biweekly update cycle... i'll try my best to do that!
> 
> also, as usual, embarrassing grammar errors and typos possible, especially towards the end, as i was getting to the point i almost fell asleep while writing and heterophoria really started to kick in.

Abe claimed a table for himself by setting down his bag on it and plopping down on the chair. His spot was on the left side of the third row, opposite side of the large windows. He vaguely remembered that they had math first. Sakaeguchi sat down behind him, chair clanging against the floor.  
  The students trickled in slowly, filling the room.

  Soon enough, both Abe and Sakaeguchi could hear familiar voices from the hallway. Suyama appeared from the doorway, greeted Abe as he passed, and sat down next to Sakaeguchi. A couple of heys later Abe could hear them chat idly behind him.

  The professor, who had come in soon after Suyama, set down his papers and other materials as the last few students rushed into the room.  He wasan old man with a beer belly and a permanent scowl. He was alright as a professor, taught well but sometimes in a way that was little too complicated to understand. Even with his usual scowl and unfriendly demeanor, he was almost surprisingly understanding when it came to teaching and his students.

  ''Really?'' Suyama chuckled, getting an affirmative hum from Sakaeguchi.

  ''Abe, is it true?'' he asked. It was easy to guess what he was asking. Sighing a little and shifting his position to a more comfortable one, Abe nodded.

  Suyama didn't have time to comment anything, though, as the clock ticked to 8:30 and their professor started speaking, forcing the boys to move their attention to him.

 

\-----

 

Mihashi was sitting at the back of the class, face sunken close to his notebook. He was taking notes as his beer bellied professor spoke, trying to catch the most important bits and pieces of information regarding the math formulas he spoke about.

  Halfway through the class, his attention span started to run out. He started to stare out of the windows instead of listening to the slightly monotone tone emerging from the front of the room. His gaze wandered over the heads of his classmates to the tree branches almost hitting the window. The thinner branches swayed softly in the wind, few remaining leaves shaking. Most of the trees were already barren, their leaves covering the wide sand roads and patches of grass, covering them with different shades of yellow, orange and red.

  It wasn't that long until it'd be too cold to pitch outside. He didn't have any idea where to pitch during the winter, if he even could. The thought made him press his lips together and move his attention from the shaking leaves back into his notebook.

  He really didn't want to stop pitching, even for winter.

  Back in junior high, he could pitch indoors when it got cold. The room, and thus the cage, had been small, so he wasn't able to pitch the full eighteen and half meter pitches. Instead, he had settled on little over ten meters and focused on his form and most of all, accuracy. Even then, he hadn't usually had a catcher with him. Most of the time, he had gone to the cage alone and pitched to a target, while the others had either gone home, played other sports or went to a batting center. Well, quite often the other pitcher for the team, Kanou, had offered to come with him. Most of the time he had either refused and told him to go with his teammates or straight up avoided him.

  He had also encouraged Mihashi to continue baseball in high school. When he had heard from Mihashi's cousin, Ruri, that Mihashi had quit, he had been disappointed. Something which Mihashi didn't completely understand, as he wasn't a good pitcher. Why should he continue playing when he would only ruin baseball for others on the team, like he had done back in junior high?

  His hand grasped his shoulder as he remembered the threat of a broken arm. It had never happened, but the threat was constant and hung over his shoulders heavily.

  No, he had made his decision and made the promise to himself, and he intended to keep it.

 

\-----

 

After math and biology, it was time for lunch. Abe, Sakaeguchi and Suyama were making their way through a mass of people towards the cafeteria, when they ran into other previous members of Nishiura baseball team.

  Tajima was practically hanging on Hanai's neck while Mizutani and Chiyo were walking side by side behind them. A chorus of hellos emerged when the two groups noticed each other.

  ''What are you doing here?'' Suyama asked from Tajima.

  ''Vacation'', he answered.

  ''Vacation or  _vacation_?'' Sakaeguchi asked, pressing the latter word heavily. Tajima grinned before answering, the freckles on his face disappearing into lines on his skin.

  ''Latter''.

  ''You sure you're going to get through college with that attitude?'' Mizutani chuckled, receiving a 'of course' in response.

  ''You should do something about him, captain'', Abe said. As Hanai had been the captain of their team all the three years they had played together, the title had stuck.

  ''Well, he was  _supposed_  to stay at home yesterday'', Hanai said, glancing at Tajima's smiling face, who poked him to the side, grin somewhat widening and causing a slight flush to appear on Hanai's cheeks.

  As far as Abe knew, Hanai had finally given in after graduation to Tajima, who had been pestering him for at least since the start of their second year of high school, if not earlier. He remembered the case of finding them out of breath with reddened lips and faces in the club room after their last practice together, making him huff a little through his nose and shifting his attention to something else. It was none of his business, especially as the pair seemed to be quite content with their relationship.

  His brow furrowed slightly as he realized that he was the odd one out of their little group of seven.

  Sakaeguchi and Suyama had gotten together at some point during their first year without anyone noticing before they told the others in their group on the winter of second year. And Mizutani had confessed to Chiyo on the summer vacation on their second year, resulting in them starting dating after a short while.

  Abe noticed the sign telling them what food was served today, and skimmed through it quickly before deciding on what to eat. He could see from the corner of his eye how Tajima started to hang on Hanai's neck again, loudly telling him what he wanted to eat.

  ''I'll pay for you if you stop choking me'', Hanai said as his step swayed a little under Tajima's weight.

  ''Thanks!'' Tajima said and immediately let go of him, falling backwards little more than he anticipated and hitting his back against someone behind him, causing a familiar blonde let out a muffled yelp. With it, Abe's attention shift from the food in front of him to Mihashi.

  He was clutching his wallet in his hands, lips pressed tightly together and eyes wide.

  ''Sorry'', Tajima said to him.

  ''It's... fine'', he answered. His eyes wandered around the room, knuckles whitening a little around his wallet. Then, he noticed Abe. He had stared at Mihashi without realizing it himself. He nodded to him awkwardly in a greeting.

  ''You know him?'' Hanai asked.

  ''Not really'', Abe answered glancing at him, before returning his attention to Mihashi, ''He's the one whose couch I hogged last night''.

  ''Oh!'' Sakaeguchi piped up and turned to smile at Mihashi, who looked back at him awkwardly.

  ''He was supposed to spend the night at my room'', he continued, ''Did he mess up your place?''

  Mihashi shook his head, still not knowing where to look.

  ''I mentioned my old baseball team, right?'' Abe asked from him, getting him to look at him instead of the walls and floor.

  ''This is roughly half of it''.

  ''What? Do you play or something?'' Tajima asked. Mihashi shook his head.

  ''I quit after- junior high'', he said, slightly pausing between words. His gaze was back on the floor.

   _Pitchers sure are a handful,_  Abe thought to himself.  _Especially this one._  


  
''Oh! What school you were in? Which position did you play?'' Tajima asked, clearly interested in the blond in front of him.

  ''Mi- Mihoshi'', Mihashi started, glancing at the floor between his feet before looking back up at Tajima, and spoke again: ''I was the... pitcher''.

  ''Mihoshi? Never heard of that'', Sakaeguchi said. The boys in the group glanced at each other, none of them knowing the school Mihashi had been before.

  ''It's in Gunma, right?'' Chiyo piped up, causing some comments to emerge from the boys, varying from 'Oh, that one' to unknowing mutters. Mihashi nodded.

  ''Were you the starter?'' Tajima asked, catching Abe's attention. Mihashi nodded again, making Abe wonder for a moment how the teams catcher had handled such a timid pitcher.

  ''So you were the ace?'' Hanai asked, a slight surprise in his tone. Mihashi clutched his wallet again.

  ''It was... because of a... f- favor''. His eyes had fallen on the floor again and the group went silent for a second.

  ''Well I'd be happy to be the ace even if it was just for a favor'', Tajima huffed.

  ''So, are you a first year?'' Hanai asked, subtly changing the subject. Mihashi's seemed relieved and he nodded in an answer.

  ''The same as us, then'', Suyama commented.

  ''Want to eat with us?'' Tajima asked, stepping a little closer to Mihashi and hanging at the edge of his personal space.

  ''Come on, you should'', he continued after not getting an answer from the blond. He smiled widely, his demeanor completely friendly as usual. He made a happy sound as Mihashi finally nodded shyly.

  Abe turned his attention back to the food in front of him, piling up what he wanted on the plate. After paying for his food, he turned around and looked around for a table that would fit all of them. On the far side of the hall, in the corner which was a little more dimly lit than the rest of the room, was a table which a smaller group was just getting up from. He quickly paved through the tables and claimed the table for the group.

  After he had sat down, others soon followed. Suyama and Sakaeguchi came first, sitting down on the opposite side of him.

  ''So you broke into his room?'' Suyama asked, making Abe almost choke on the piece of meat he had been chewing on.

  ''I didn't  _break_  into his room'', he coughed, ''It was an accident. And besides, his door was unlocked''.

  ''Still. No wonder he was terrified of you'', Sakaeguchi said. Abe's brow furrowed.

  ''That's exactly what I mean'', he continued, pointing between Abe's brows. Abe just huffed and continued eating as Mizutani, Chiyo and Hanai sat down.

  ''So what's this of Abe hogging a wrong sofa?'' Hanai asked.

  Abe groaned almost painfully, making Sakaeguchi and Suyama laugh. Before Tajima and Mihashi sat down with the rest of the group, Sakaeguchi gave a quick recap of the happenings of last night. During the couple of minutes Abe had been sitting down on the table, Tajima had seemingly managed to befriend the blonde.

  Tajima was babbling on about something to Mihashi, who listened closely, his attention fully focused on the freckled boy. In addition, he had a somewhat weird look on his face. Most likely it was either a smile or a smirk, with Mihashi's lips curling upwards lightly. Mentally Abe voted for the smile instead of the smirk.

  Tajima went on and on to Mihashi while the rest of the group chattered about something while mostly focusing on their food. When Abe finished his, he dug out his phone while waiting for the others to finish.

  ''Would you like to come see us play?'' Tajima asked from Mihashi, catching the attention of the entire group.

  ''Y-you play in a... team?''

  ''Not really, we just rally with each other or play games against old friends'', Tajima answered, ''We don't play seriously''.

  ''Most of the time'', Hanai commented, causing a laughter to emerge.

  ''Loser team usually has to pay for the winner team's food or the like'', Tajima explained to Mihashi, paying little mind to others.

  ''And if you come, you could meet the rest of our old team!''

  Mihashi was silent, seemingly thinking about the offer. Tajima waited for his answer, practically swaying on his seat excitedly.

  ''We can go eat somewhere afterwards'', Tajima offered, ''And Abe can catch for you!''

  Abe's eyes shot up to Tajima from his phone.

  ''You can, right?'' Tajima asked, looking at him, demanding. Abe straightened his back and sighed softly.

  ''Sure''.

  ''B-but my pitches... are slow''.

  ''That's fine'', Abe said, ''It's probably been a while since you've pitched''.

  Mihashi shook his head.

  ''I do... pitch by myself'', he said.

  Abe blinked once before saying anything, wondering what was the best approach.

  ''As I said, that's fine. I won't except too much'', he said, seeing how Mihashi's face seemed to drain color just a little bit.

  ''You can just pitch your best'', he continued. His words didn't seem to help that much.

  Tajima's attention was at Mihashi, who still seemed unsure. He was determined on getting Mihashi to join them on Sunday.

  ''We'll go get meat buns afterwards!'' Tajima piled up his offer on top of his old ones. A few seconds of silence, then Mihashi opened his mouth to speak.

  ''Y-yeah. I'll come''.

  With that, Tajima hooked his arm around Mihashi's neck, smiling widely. Mihashi's eyes widened in surprise at first, then fell shyly onto the table before going back to Tajima.

  ''Good! We'll be meeting up on Sunday around noon at the school's field''.

  ''Okay!'', Mihashi piped up, seemingly more relaxed now. He had that weird half-smile half-grin on his lips again.

 

\-----

 

It was already Saturday evening and Mihashi was pitching against the wall.

  Tomorrow, he could pitch to a catcher.

  His lips and grip on the ball tightened a little bit as he remembered the scowl Abe sometimes had on his face. He'd pitch him a pitch or two, until he would say that he really was no good and tell him to get off the mound. The ball made a loud sound as it hit the chalk drawn against the wall.

  Abe's teammates were less frightening, though. When they'd have same classes, Sakaeguchi would sit down next to him with Suyama and talk to him about whatever. Sometimes Mihashi would simply listen. Abe often sat with the two of them, but he often remained silent, only throwing a few comments here and there. Chiyo, Mizutani and Hanai would sit down next to him too. They were nice enough to sit with him, to talk with him.

  Mihashi wasn't sure how they would react after seeing him pitch. Maybe they would stop talking to him, maybe they wouldn't. They had spoken to him even without seeing him pitch, and could maybe continue doing so even after seeing it, but he could never be too sure, right?

  The ball made a little less loud sound this time.

  He'd at least like to believe they'd continue speaking to him even after seeing him pitch.

 

\------

 

''Over here, Mihashi!''

   _So he actually came._  Not that Abe had believed that he wouldn't, but he certainly would have believed if Mihashi had come up with some sort of excuse and decided not to come after all. Tajima had said that he had been waiting to see a past ace's pitch, no matter how influenced his position had been by a favor.

  The duo was now standing a small distance away, voices muffled but heard. Mihashi looked nervous overall, while Tajima looked excited as ever.

  Abe thought about the other team that they had managed to agree play against them, which consisted mainly of his old teammates from the Seniors. They had played against them once before, a few months back during the summer.

  ''Abe'', somebody called.

  Abe moved his attention from the duo in front of him to Hamada, who was now standing next to him.

  ''Yeah?''

  ''What's his name?''

  ''Mihashi Ren''.

  Hamada didn't answer, instead going silent and clearly thinking hard.

  ''Why?'' Abe asked. Hamada scratched his chin before speaking.

  ''I think I know him''. Abe crooked a brow at him.

  ''From where?''

  ''If he's the Mihashi I knew, we lived in the same apartment complex years back''.

  Abe made a acknowledging sound and stared at the duo. Tajima turned around, prompting Mihashi to follow him. Mihashi's fingers were wrapped around the strap of his bag, but not as nervously as Abe had initially thought. From the corner of his eye, he could see Hamada reel back a little bit.

  ''H-hello'', Mihashi said to both Abe and Hamada, who returned the greeting.

  ''Do you want to pitch before or after the game?'' Tajima asked.

  ''Preferably before'', Abe said before Mihashi could answer.

  ''If that's okay'', he continued, meeting Mihashi's eyes for a moment. He nodded, his fingers tightening just a little bit. Hamada took a deep breath, making a soft sound as he did so.

  ''Y-you're Mihashi Ren, right?'' he asked, getting a nod as an answer.

  ''Did you live in the Creaking Rust Villa before?''

  Mihashi blinked blankly.

  ''H-Hamada?''

  Now it was Hamada's turn to blink blankly.

  ''So you remember me!'' Hamada said, a smile cracking on his lips. Mihashi nodded quickly a couple of times, almost seeming like he could break his neck by doing so. That weird smile was a little more reminiscent of an actual smile now.

  ''Sorry to interrupt, but we should get going if we intent to let you pitch before the game'', Abe said to Mihashi.

  ''O-okay''.

  ''We'll talk later, alright?'' Hamada said, smiling. Mihashi nodded again, then turning to follow Abe.

  ''What kind of pitches you have?'' Abe asked as Mihashi set down his bag in front of the dugout while Abe dropped down into it to put on his gear. Suyama, who was in the dugout as well, helped Abe by putting on his leg guards as Abe put on the chest guard.

  ''Uh... Fastball, shoot... and... these ones'', Mihashi said as he showed a curve and a slider with his fingers in the air.

   _Three breaking balls and a fastball?_ _Huh._  


  ''You have any signs?'', Abe said to Mihashi and glanced at Suyama to thank him as he finished with his legs. He grabbed his helmet and climbed out of the dugout. Mihashi shook his head.

  ''I- haven't used signs... in years'', he said quietly, ''I think... the catcher hated me''.

  Abe sighed a little. If that was the case, it might explain the current Mihashi at least a little bit.

  ''Then we'll just pick some signs now'', he huffed.

  Mihashi nodded.

  ''One for fastball, two for shoot, three for slider and four for curve'', Abe listed, ''And you can just aim for my mitt''.

  Mihashi recited the numbers and pitches to Abe, who nodded in approval. He didn't have to expect much from the blonde in front of him, nor did he actually expect much. Him pitching had been Tajima's idea anyway, which he had just agreed to. He supposed it wouldn't hurt him to spend a few minutes catching Mihashi's pitches for Tajima.

  ''You have your own glove?''

  Mihashi took his glove out of his bag and got a ball from Abe.

  ''Go to the mound. No need to pitch with full power with a cold shoulder'', Abe said to him and received a nod with a small acknowledging sound.

  Mihashi turned around and took the mound while Abe took his place behind the homeplate. He put on his helmet and crouched down, sitting on his toes. He kept his hands in his lap as Mihashi took a few steps on the mound, scratching the bottom of his shoes on the ground. Mihashi himself hadn't noticed it yet, but everybody who had been either warming up in the background of prepared for the game otherwise, had shifted all their attention to him. Though, when he lifted his eyes from the ground he had scratched, he noticed, jumping a little bit in the sudden spotlight. He swallowed, gripped the ball in his hand and set down his other leg to the rubber and leaned forward a little bit, waiting for his signal.

  Seeing that, Abe moved his other hand to in front of his groin and signaled for a fastball. Something easy for the first pitch.

   _A sign,_ Mihashi thought. It was the first time in many, many years that he had received one. And couple of years less that he had pitched to an actual catcher instead of a wall or a net in the first place. He gripped the ball tightly in his hand and nodded. Abe set down his feet on the ground, widening his stance a little bit and straightening his back, taking a more steady position to receive the ball.

  Mihashi took a deep breath, straightened his body and lifted his leg up before stepping forward with a long step, the ball leaving his hand.

  Abe had told Mihashi to aim for his mitt and that he did. Well, to the extent of his abilities. Abe lowered his mitt to catch the ball, thinking it'd go low. To his surprise, instead of the ball dropping down to where Abe had moved his hand, he had to lift it back up to it's original place before the ball could pass by his hand and hit him square on the chest. He blinked, surprised, if not slightly shocked.

  Mihashi sighed a little bit. That pitch would probably be the first and last one to a catcher in a while. He stood up, somewhat slumping.

  ''It really is slow'', Sakaeguchi commented.

  What made Mihashi jump however, was not Sakaeguchi's comment, but the fact that Abe stood up and threw the ball back to him. He managed to catch the ball, staring at the catcher in disbelief. He wasn't in position to pitch, but he could see Abe giving him a sign for another fastball. He was crouched down, mitt lifted up to his chest and ready to catch another pitch. It took a second for Mihashi to get back to his pitching position and pitch again, aiming for Abe's mitt.

  This time, Abe didn't move his mitt. Instead, he waited for the ball, even if it meant risking the fact that Mihashi's first pitch had been simply luck and it'd hit him instead of his mitt. The ball landed right on target, not requiring him to move his hand even a bit. He stood up to throw the ball back to the mound before settling down again.

   _This needs experimenting_.

  Abe made Mihashi pitch several fastballs and a few of every breaking balls. When Mihashi pitched the last curveball and Abe had caught it, he almost ran up to Mihashi, eyes practically sparkling.

  ''How many partitions?'' he asked, voice loud with excitement.

  Mihashi jumped at Abe's loud voice, silent for a second before understanding what he had asked.

  ''N-nine''.

  Mihashi could hear a few surprised noises behind him.

  ''If you have that much control, why did you quit after junior high?''

  ''I- I... All my pitches are slow... so''.

  ''With a lead good enough it wouldn't matter!''

  Abe could see how Mihashi's eyes fell to the ground, making irritation rise up in him.

  ''The other team is here!'' Chiyo shouted, appearing from behind the corner and tailed by a group of boys.

  Abe swallowed down his irritation and stepped back. This wasn't the time nor the place for this.

  ''Oki!'' he yelled, looking for his pitcher for the game.

  ''Here!''.

  Tajima hooked Mihashi's neck as he passed him by, pulling him along towards the dugout.

  ''Nine partitions, huh?'' he huffed, ''That's pretty good, isn't it?''

  ''Of course it is'', Hanai said, appearing next to them.

  Mihashi didn't really listen as the two of them talked on about the accuracy of pitchers. Instead, he sat down in the dugout when prompted to do so, half-mindedly following the game. No matter how good his accuracy was, he was still no good as a pitcher without a fast pitch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> four thousand words. i am dead. goodbye world.  
> no but seriously this is the longest chapter in anything ever that i have written.
> 
> (spends an hour on youtube watching peeps play baseball so i can get the descriptions to be more accurate) oops where does my time go.  
> i think i might enjoy writing this a little too much pffffffff


	3. Pitcher

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i swear to god the biggest problem in my writing is expect and except. every single time i use either of them i have to stop to think about whichever was the right one for this instance and more often than i'd like to accept i have to google it.  
> and of course it breaks my train of thought so haha
> 
> on another note i got an idea i really liked for a scene for this fic. i almost forgot about it completely though, as i thought it up while i was driving in a really thick fog with like ten meter visibility. and i always have to write down my ideas or they're gone like wind. i managed to remember it later that night tho haha, and am planning on writing that scene in more or less detail to the original idea. i really should start carrying around a notebook just for the ideas i randomly get.

 Abe had overreacted and he knew it.

  He huffed in frustration as he crouched down to warm up Oki, who was now standing on the mound.

  Oki looked as nervous as ever.

  He had been Nishiura's pitcher for their first year, until he was replaced by a more experienced one at the start of their second year. He had been relieved to be replaced, though he still pitched in practice games and was a relief pitcher for a couple of innings in most games.

  He was accurate enough to pitch inside and outside when he wanted and had a slider and a curve in addition to a fastball. Still, he clearly preferred to play the first baseman, his usual position, or his second fielding position, the right field.

  When Abe had to step to the side a little to reach Oki's pitch gone awry, he remembered how easy it had been to catch for Mihashi.

  ''Sorry!'' Oki shouted from the mound as Abe stood up to throw the ball back.

  ''Don't mind!''

  Mihashi's nine partition pitching grid was the result of hours upon hours of practice. Months.  _Years_. He had the ability to pitch exactly where he wanted, but he was ready to throw all that work down the drain. He wasn't only ready, but he had already done it. Abe could feel the irritation rise up again, and he shoved it to the back of his mind. He had to focus on the pitcher in front of him instead of the one sitting in the dugout.

 

\-----

 

Mihashi was sitting on the bench, his hands hanging between his thighs.

  ''Hey'', Hamada called, getting the boy look up at him and follow him with his eyes as he sat down next to him.

  ''Hey''. Mihashi's voice was weak, almost a whisper.

  ''How did you like it?'' Hamada asked, ''Pitching, I mean''.

  Mihashi was quiet for a second before nodding a little.

  ''G-good'', he said, ''It was good''.

  ''I heard you quit after junior high?''

  A nod. Both of them were now looking at Abe and Oki, standing on the mound, covering their mouths with their mitts.

  ''He's too serious for his own good'', Hamada said, referring to Abe.

  ''Has been since always, apparently''.

  ''W-what about y- ou'', Mihashi asked suddenly, receiving a blank look from Hamada.

  ''Baseball'', he continued.

  ''Ah. I quit long time ago'', Hamada answered, ''Little league elbow''.

  When Hamada stretched out his arm, his elbow didn't straighten out completely. It showed clearly under the almost skin tight sleeves of his shirt. Before too long, he folded his arms back onto his lap, smiling sheepishly.

  ''I play other sports, though. And act as a runner when they practice''.

  ''W-what kind of... practice?''

  ''Mostly drills, batting, passing and the like. Pretty normal practice'', Hamada said and seemed to wander off in his thoughts for a second, ''I suppose they want to keep up their skills at least a little''.

  They watched as Abe crouched down in the catcher's box with a batter next to him. Behind him, a friend of one of the opposing team's members stood as an umpire. The batter swung his bat a few times through the air, kicked the ground in the batters box and nodded, taking his stance.

  Oki pitched and Abe's hand moved to catch it, the ball making its way into his mitt.

  ''Strike!''

  Abe threw back the ball, crouched again and gave signals to Oki, who nodded. The batter swung this time, whiffing it.

  ''So why did you quit playing?'' Hamada asked, startling Mihashi. He didn't answer.

  ''You still like pitching, right?''

  Mihashi's knuckles whitened on his thighs for a moment.

  ''I- I do, but I didn't w-want to... ruin it for e-everybody''.

  Hamada glanced at the younger boy next to him, seeing how his face had fallen towards the ground. A loud crack of the bat and his eyes shot back to the game before him, though.

  The familiar crack that almost rang in his ears, loud and clear. A scary sound if he was the one standing on the mound.

  The ball bounced off the ground in front of the third base, ending up to Izumi, who threw it back to first.

  ''Safe!''

  Mihashi turned to look at his fingers, fiddling with his nails.

  ''I... I refused to get off the mound. We lo- lost because of me. For three years''.

  Hamada kept silent, opting to simply listen to Mihashi. He was how the blondes eyes had watered up. The tears never left his eyes, though.

  ''They we- re happy that I quit. They thought that maybe... maybe they'd win then''.

  Mihashi went silent after that.

  ''Did they?''

  A nod.

  ''T-They made the best sixteen on their fi... first year. Second year too. Third year... best eight''.

  ''Have you seen them play?''

  A headshake.

  ''Do you think these guys are a good team?''

  Mihashi glanced at Hamada, confused, before turning his attention back to the game.

  ''Two outs!'' Oki shouted from the mound, showing the number with his fingers. The fielders returned his shout to him and he faced the batter again. A sign from Abe, a pitch. The batter whiffed. Ball back to Oki, a sign and a nod.

  ''Ball!''

  The batter was clearly a little nervous, his grip on the bat tight. On the third pitch to him, he swung at a ball. He swung his bat a couple of times through empty air before taking his stance again.

  ''Strike!''

  Mihashi nodded, answering Hamada's question a minute earlier.

  The fielders and Oki started running towards the dugout.

  ''Nice pitching!''

  ''They made the best eight last year. Before that, best sixteen. On their first year they lost on the first round''.

  ''F- first round?''

  Hamada nodded, sighing a little through his nose.

  ''They got pretty down after it. Fortunately, they picked themselves up pretty quickly''.

  The members of the team jumped down the few stairs into the dugout, loud laughter and chatter filling the hollow space. First two of the batters, boys who Mihashi hadn't met yet, put on their gear and left the dugout. In addition to them, Oki and Mizutani went to base coach.

  ''Hey!'' Tajima huffed as he sat down next to Mihashi.

  ''How do you like the game?'' he asked.

  ''It's... nice'', Mihashi answered, clearly brightened up with the appearance of the freckled boy. He turned to look at the mound, which was now occupied by the opposing team's pitcher. The elevated ground had felt good under his feet.

  ''What? You wanna pitch more?''

  Tajima's question surprised Mihashi a little. He looked at the mound again, remembering the feeling of standing on it. A crack of the bat ran through the air, the ball bouncing off the ground between the infielders.

  ''Safe!''

  ''If he wants to, he can pitch more after the game'', Abe said. He had taken off his gear and was now standing behind the bench the trio sat on, arms crossed atop his chest.

  ''Really?'' Tajima yelped and turned to Mihashi, grinning, ''Isn't that nice?''

  Mihashi glanced at Abe, quickly turning away from him and looking at the mound again. The pitcher wound up, his thigh close to his stomach. With a quick motion, he stepped forward and threw. The batter bunted the ball a small distance away from the pitcher and ran, the bat dropping to the ground. The pitcher was a little too slow to pick up the ball and throw it to first.

  ''Safe!''

  ''Both Izumi and Nishihiro are running well today'', Sakaeguchi commented.

  ''They probably don't want to pay again'', Hamada chuckled. The last time the old Nishiura team had played against the same team as now, they had lost and ended up paying for their food at the nearby snack bar.

  It was Suyama's at-bat next. He was relaxed, considering that there was a runner on both first and third. He swung his bat once, looked at Izumi at third for a second and took his stance.

  ''Ready'', he said.

  The dugout had fell silent, focusing on the situation on the field and on the chance of a run.

  ''Strike!''

  Suyama stood still, watching the first pitch. He stepped forwards a little before the pitcher threw again. A crack of the bat and Izumi ran towards the homeplate. The ball flew over the pitcher and the infielders, flying between the center and left field. The center fielder jumped in an attempt to catch the the ball, but it landed on the ground behind him. The left fielder grabbed the ball and threw it towards third.

  ''Safe!''

  Nishihiro was safe on third and Suyama was on first. Izumi had made the first run of the game.

  ''Nice batting!'' a chorus of shouts emerged from the dugout, ringing in Mihashi's ears. Hamada turned to look at him, seeing his brightened face and the half-smile half-grin on his lips. Hamada chuckled a little to himself. It'd probably been a long time since Mihashi had experienced the excitement of a game.

 

\-----

 

''Thank you!'' both of the teams shouted, bowing and standing in their lines.

  Both of the teams merged into one large mass after that, chatting and laughing with each other. The whole group walked towards the school gates after cleaning up the field.

  ''You owe us our lunch'', Hanai said to the other team's captain, smiling.

  ''You guys got us this time''.

  Mihashi was walking between Hamada and Tajima at the back of the group.

  ''You should come watch us again'', Tajima huffed, receiving a nod after a second of hesitation from Mihashi. He grinned at the blond, happy with his agreement.

  ''We won't be having a game for few weeks, but you could still come''.

  ''It's the last game before winter, right?'' Hamada asked. Tajima nodded with a 'yeah'. In a few weeks it'd be too cold to play comfortably outside.

  In around fifteen minutes, the group arrived at the snack bar. The other team paid for the food with joking grumbles and the teams separated. The old Nishiura team stayed at the snack bar, eating their food, while the others went for the bus stop.

  ''Who are we playing against next time?'' Tajima asked from Hanai, who was standing next to him, finishing the last bits of his meal.

  ''Not sure yet. We should get an answer in a few days, though''.

  After they all had eaten they went outside the snack bar, waiting for the bus that half of them would take. They chattered about past and future games, the classes they'd have tomorrow morning and how some of them had assignments to make for next week.

  ''So you're a pitcher?'' Oki asked from Mihashi. The blond nodded, holding the strap of his bag in his hands.

  ''You have really good control'', he said, half to himself, half to Mihashi.

  ''But... my pitches are slow''.

  Oki was silent for a second.

  ''So are mine, you know? My fastest pitches are barely in 120's''.

  ''And you still manage to strike out batters'', Izumi commented from the side.

  ''Abe has a pretty good lead'', Hanai said, picking up the attention of the catcher by mentioning his name.

  ''I can only pitch inside and outside'', Oki said to Mihashi, a sheepish smile thinning his lips.

  ''How long have you been pitching, anyway?'' Tajima asked from the blond next to him.

  ''Since... e-eight or nine?''

  ''For ten years? Really?'' Tajima huffed.

  ''That's a long time'', Hanai commented, ''You played in junior high, right? How did your team do?''

  For a second, Mihashi clutched the bag strap in his hands, eyes falling to his feet instead of running between others and his surroundings.

  ''W-We lost... because of me''.

  The group fell silent for a moment.

  ''How come?'' Tajima asked.

  ''I refu- sed to give up the mound''. Mihashi's voice was silent, his gaze stuck on the ground and hands clutching the strap, knuckles white. Tears burned behind his eyes.

  More silence.

  ''Isn't that a good thing?'' Abe said, ''A pitcher should want to pitch''.

   _Unlike Oki_ , he thought to himself. Well, they hadn't had much choice in the matter.

  ''The bus is here'', Nishihiro said, seeing the bus turning the corner towards them.

  It didn't take long for the bus to reach the stop.

  ''See you next week'', Hanai said, a chorus of 'yeah's and 'see you's following from both sides of the now separated two groups.

  Tajima, Izumi, Hamada, Oki and Nishihiro boarded the bus while the rest left the stop and started going back towards the school.

  ''You're not going home?'' Mizutani asked from Suyama. He lived some distance away from the school and normally he'd take the bus at the other side of the street to go home.

  ''Nope'', he answered.

  Mihashi fell to the back of the group, following the others close behind while Hanai led the way. Sakaeguchi slowed down his steps for a moment until he was walking next to Mihashi.

  ''You have math tomorrow morning, right?'' he asked. The blonde nodded. Sakaeguchi made a small sound, then fell silent, an absent look on his face for a moment. Suddenly, he turned to look at Mihashi, making the blonde jump a little.

  ''So, do you practice alone?'' he asked.

  ''Y-yeah''.

  ''Hmm'', Sakaeguchi hummed, ''I could play catch with you, if you want''.

  Mihashi's face brightened and he nodded quickly.

  ''Good. Tomorrow?''

  Another quick nod. Sakaeguchi smiled.

  ''It's a promise, then''.

  It wasn't long before they reached the nearest school gate, which was next to the dormitories.

  ''See you tomorrow'', Sakaeguchi said as he, Suyama and Mihashi left the group.

  ''See you'', Mizutani said to Chiyo and followed the three. Hanai and Abe waited for Chiyo to catch up with them before they continued along the road.

  ''He's good, isn't he?'' Hanai asked.

  Abe rose a brow for him, waiting for clarification.

  ''Mihashi''.

  ''Ah. Yeah'', Abe answered. He sighed heavily through his nose.

  ''If only he had come to Nishiura'', he huffed.

  Hanai shrugged a little, making a sound.

  ''What's done is done. And even if he had been with us, it's hard to say how different our team had been''.

  Abe was silent for a moment.

  ''Guess so'', he said as he moved the strap of his bag closer to his neck, from where it had fallen lower down his shoulder.

  Chiyo left the two as they turned around the corner, saying her goodbyes. She crossed the street towards her apartment.

  ''Still, it's nice to wonder what we may have been with him'', Hanai said. Abe didn't answer. After walking for a couple of hundred meters, they crossed the street and went inside one of the five apartment complexes mainly meant for students. Hanai lived on the second floor while Abe lived on the fifth.

  When Abe opened the door to his apartment and closed it behind him, he dug out his phone from his pocket. The door closed behind him as he took off his shoes and put down his bag. Opening the list of messages, he selected Sakaeguchi and started typing. He sent his message as one of the old messages caught his attention.

  '4'.

  It was the message Sakaeguchi had sent him after he had asked which floor he lived on. And, of course, Sakaeguchi actually lived on the fifth.

   _So it's his fault_.

  For a moment Abe thought about sending him a message about it, but decided to abandon the idea. It was just a typo, after all. And with that typo, he had managed to catch himself a new pitcher.

 

\-----

 

''The university team ends their practice sometime after eight, so we can go to the field after that. Other option is the school grounds in general'', Sakaeguchi said to Mihashi as they packed their bags after their last class.

  ''Or do you want to go right now?'' he asked, receiving a small smile and a quick nod from the blond.

  ''You know any good spots?''

  ''T-There's one near the back gate''.

  They left the school building, crossed the wide empty area to the dormitories and quickly visited their rooms to drop off their bags and get their gloves and a couple of balls. They chattered about their beer bellied math professor, the friendly chemistry professor and whatever that popped to mind.

  ''H-Here'', Mihashi said as they arrived at the secluded spot at the side of the school building.

  Sakaeguchi turned around, seeing the dormitories behind him through two rows of trees, making an impressed sound.

  ''This is a pretty good spot'', he chuckled.

  When he turned around, he saw Mihashi already glove in hand and a ball in another, face bright. He smiled, pushing his hand into his own glove.

  ''Okay'', he said as he walked a little further away from Mihashi, enough far to throw longer throws but close enough to be able to talk comfortably.

  Mihashi threw the ball to him, starting the catch. They threw the ball a couple of times before Sakaeguchi noticed the faded markings on the wall. A nine part grid, drawn with white chalk.

  ''You pitch here?''

  An affirmative hum. Sakaeguchi looked at the grid on the wall, wondering how long it had been there. Probably from the start of the school year, knowing how much the blonde liked to pitch.

  ''Oh, yeah. Abe asked me to do something for him'', he said, ''He wanted me to ask you if you'd like to pitch''.

  He didn't get an answer at first. The ball Mihashi threw landed in his glove and he threw it back before speaking again.

  ''You know, none of the guys here can catch besides Abe. So, if you'd like to pitch with a catcher'', he paused for a moment as he threw the ball again, ''You could pitch with him''.

  Mihashi didn't answer and the ball was still in his glove.

  ''He's pretty intimidating at first, but he's surprisingly decent guy after you get to know him''.

  Mihashi was still silent.

  The mound had felt good after years. A catcher who actually gave him signs, who said that him not giving up the mound was actually a good quality. A bit intimidating, but he still caught his pitches. And he himself offered to catch for him. He could take the mound again, if only to practice pitching instead of actually playing.

  ''Okay''.

  ''So you agree?'' Sakaeguchi asked, receiving a nod. He smiled a bit.

  ''I'll tell him later, then''.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> UNIVERSITY. BASEBALL. TEAM. :>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> yessss the setting up is finally done and i get to start developing thingsss
> 
> OKAY everybody gets a permission to kick down my door and punch me in the face if i haven't updated each week before mondays  
> either in here or at my [tumblr](http://http://lukathorben.tumblr.com/)  
> i'm going to update this weekly either on saturdays or sundays  
> most likely on late saturday nights or in very early sunday mornings (in the saturday evening in the us, i think??)  
> i'm going to fucking do it  
> so going to do it yesss
> 
> THANK YOU SO MUCH for all the comments, even though i don't really respond much (i just go into the 'swEATS WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO SAY' mode and then.... not respond.... at all siiigh) and let me tell you that i go back to reread them while grinning really rEALLY dumbly. this fandom is the best i've ever been in.


	4. The mound

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i got a lil notebook for myself where i've listed the positions and batting order for the team (two sets of that haaah) and in which uni they go and who tend to have classes with each other a lot etc and that memo is just growing with each chapter.... i forget things otherwise haha  
> i also looked at my general ideas for upcoming chapters and realized this thing is barely going the way i originally thought pfff, tho i kinda prefer the way it is now. i just let it go where it wants to tbh
> 
> i just realized that these kids are actually younger than me in the anime/manga which is kinda weird as i've gotten really used to the fact that characters are either older than me or the same age and then realizing they're younger than me i'm like ??? what ???? i'm only eighteen but feel so old ???????

Sakaeguchi had barely put down his baseball glove when his phone rang in his pocket.

  ''Yeah?'' he chuckled as he threw his keys onto the counter. He knew who the caller was even without checking.

  ''So what did he say?'' Abe asked.

  ''What do you think?''

  It was unnecessary to tease him, but Sakaeguchi liked it nonetheless. He managed to keep his laughter in as he imagined how frustrated Abe was.

  ''I don't know. Yes, no, tell me''.

  ''I don't remember, to be honest''. His words were answered with a frustrated huff. He chuckled again.

  ''Okay, he said'', Sakaeguchi said, ''Though I had to sugarcoat your personality a little to him''.

  He could hear Abe lightly slap his hand against his face, probably to drag it down his face. He could hear him sigh.

  ''As long as you got him to agree'', Abe said, ''Do you have his email or anything?''

  ''No, now that I think about it'', Sakaeguchi said as he sat down his kitchen table and opened his math book, intending to quickly do his homework before going to sleep.

  ''I'll just ask him tomorrow, then''.

  ''You do that''.

  ''Well, then-'', Abe started, but got cut off by Sakaeguchi.

  ''You really should be nice to him''.

  ''... What do you mean?''

  ''As you probably know, he's timid. Very. And you shouting in his ear and getting pissed over small things is definitely not going to help. In a way, he's kind of like Oki back in the day. Except even more jumpy. If you just get him to trust you, well... You should get along with him just fine''.

  ''Yeah''.

  ''Just don't shout at him'', Sakaeguchi chuckled, summarizing his advice.

  ''Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow, then''.

  An agreeing hum.

  ''Thanks, by the way'', Abe said, almost huffing it under his breath.

  ''See you'', Sakaeguchi answered and ended the call. He took a look over his homework and sighed.

 

\-----

 

When Abe had paid for his food, he scanned the cafeteria with his eyes. Noticing the group huddled up in their usual corner, he slowly weaved through the tables. He should take the opportunity and ask Mihashi for his email and if he had time either today or tomorrow to pitch for him. When he got closer, he noticed for his disappointment that the last two free chairs on the table were at the opposite side that Mihashi was sitting on. Abe didn't really want to start talking with him over two people sitting between them.

  He set down his tray and next to Hanai's, who glanced up at him as he sat down before returning his attention to the bouncing conversation.

  ''Are you serious, you got her to agree?''

  Hanai hummed in answer, his mouth full.

  ''It's a little surprising'', Mizutani said.

  ''It's not  _that_ surprising if you think about it. I mean, they get to play against their previous upperclassmen'', Suyama said, ''It's good practice for them''.

  ''Who agreed to what?'' Abe asked.

  ''Momoe. She agreed to have a practice game with us two weeks from now on'', Sakaeguchi answered.

  ''And she said that the team has come a long way since we left'', Hanai added.

  ''We've played both with them and against them in practices countless times'', Sakaeguchi said, ''Can they really change things up so much in, what, five months?''

  ''It's Momoe we're talking about. Wouldn't be that surprising'', Hanai huffed. The table chorused with agreeing sounds. Abe made a small sound before digging into his food.

  ''So it's second Sunday of September, right?'' Mizutani asked. Chiyo confirmed his suspicion with a nod.

  ''I- I'll come watch!'' Mihashi chirped from the end of the table.

  While Abe chewed his food somewhat absentmindedly, Mihashi's chirping voice gave him an idea.

  He soon finished his food and stood up with the rest of the group who had waited for him. They all went to drop off their trays and dirty dishes in a more or less of a line. One by one, they walked out of the cafeteria and into the hallway and the large hall-like room, which had one of the many smaller doors that led outside. They grabbed their bags, which were laid out on the floor, on the both sides of the doors leading into the cafeteria.

  Abe, who was at the back of the pack, quickened his pace to catch up with Mihashi, who was almost at the front, talking with Sakaeguchi and Suyama. When he got closer, he could hear them talk about their old team at Nishiura.

  ''There were only nine of us at the beginning'', Sakaeguchi said, ''So all of us were able to play in games''.

  ''It was pretty hard at first'', Suyama commented.

  Mihashi made an agreeing sound, listening closely what the two told him.

  ''We did get a few players new players next year'', Abe said, now walking next to Mihashi.

  ''W... kind of players?'' Mihashi asked, now looking at Abe.

  ''Well, a pitcher, couple of outfielders, first baseman and a shortstop'', Abe answered, ''They were all pretty decent hitters as well''.

  ''Yeah, especially Akihiko'', Sakaeguchi said.

  ''He was good, but not as good as Tajima or Hanai'', Suyama said.

  ''Close, at least. All of them probably have gotten a lot better, though''.

  As the two continued talking on about their old teammates, Abe took his chance.

  ''Mihashi'', he called.

  ''Y- es?''

  ''Do you have time today?''

  A quick nod. Abe did his best to follow Sakaeguchi's advice and not get annoyed at Mihashi, who barely kept up eye contact.

  ''You want to pitch today?''

  For a second, Mihashi looked nervous, maybe a little surprised, but then he brightened up with a small smile.

  ''Y-Yeah!''

  ''Good. After school?'' Abe said, pausing for a second, ''But if we go later, we could go to the baseball field''.

  ''Whichever is... fine''.

  ''Then... Later?''

  Going later, after the university team's practice, would give him time to prepare mentally and to think about ways to persuade Mihashi.

  ''Yeah!'' was Mihashi's answer.

  ''Then I'll send you a message later'', Abe said, ''I need your email, though''.

 

\-----

 

Mihashi was sitting on his couch, fiddling with his glove, excited. He was waiting for a beep from his phone, a message saying that Abe had left his apartment and so should him. They had agreed to meet on the baseball field.

  It didn't take that much fiddling before he heard a beep. Quickly, Mihashi grabbed his phone, flipped it open and there it was, a message from Abe.

  ' _I just left, see you on the field in a few'_

  Mihashi closed his phone, shoved it into the pocket of his hoodie, grabbed his glove and practically ran out of his room. His keys jingled in his pocket as he ran down the stairs two at a time. When he got to the first floor and quickly pushed the door open, he felt the cool air against his skin, causing small shivers go down his spine. He half-jogged, half-walked on the wide sand road between the dorm and the school. He cut across the large grass field, seeing the tall fences surrounding the field a small distance away.

  When he got closer, he saw Abe appear behind the corner of the school, about to turn to the narrower path to the field. When he noticed Mihashi, he stopped in his tracks to wait.

  ''Hey'', he said as Mihashi got close enough.

  ''H-Hi''.

  Abe opened the door, motioning for Mihashi to go first. When he stepped through the door, he could see the large field, now empty. Last Sunday there had been players warming up or going around otherwise in addition to two helpers.

  ''You should warm up a little before pitching''.

  Abe walked past Mihashi, heading for the homeplate. He dropped the bag he had on his shoulder behind the white rubber and turned around to see the blonde following him a few meters away.

  ''Just shoulders should be enough'', he said as Mihashi dropped his glove next to his bag. Mihashi warmed up for a few minutes by swinging his arms around in a couple of different patterns and few other exercises while Abe took out his gear from his bag and put them on.

  When Mihashi was done, Abe threw one of the balls he had in his bag to him, which he caught with his bare hand.

  ''Here'', Abe said as he handed Mihashi's glove to him.

  ''T-Thank you''.

  Abe watched as the blonde practically skipped to the mound, hurry in his steps. He shook his head a few times, feeling a light smirk tugging the corners of his lips as he did so.

  ''Same signs as last time!'' Abe shouted, ''Don't use too much power at first!''

  The blonde nodded in response. He looked at the ball in his hand, his knuckles whitening as his grip on it tightened. The sun was slowly going further from its highest point and, as it already was late fall, it was getting cold as well. Nevertheless, the blonde didn't feel cold at all. He got to pitch and little else mattered right then and there.

  ''You ready?''

  ''Yeah!''

  Abe was a little surprised by the blonde's enthusiastic answer. He watched as Mihashi threw the ball in the air once, caught it, and turned to face him. He moved his hand with the ball behind his back and took a position to wait for a signal.

  It wasn't usual for the blonde to shift his full attention to Abe.

  Usually, his body was facing more or less away from him, his body language telling that he wasn't a hundred per cent comfortable around him. In addition to that, his gaze wandered around often, if not always. He would look at Abe for a second, look away at the floor or the walls, turn to look at him for a moment only to turn away again.

  Now, Mihashi was facing him completely, not shifting his attention even for a moment. He didn't even move. He waited for Abe to crouch down, give him a sign and lift his mitt.

  Abe felt light shivers run down his spine and a grin on his face.

   _Amazing._

  He put on his helmet, pulling it down onto his face and crouched down to give Mihashi a sign.

  The ball hit his mitt with a thwack. He threw it back and gave another sign, lifting his mitt from his thigh. This repeated until he had counted fourty pitches. Then, he stood up, noticed the surprised look on Mihashi's face turn to slight nervousness, and walked up to the mound. He tried his best to keep as nonthreatening appearance as possible in an attempt to calm down the blonde.

  ''How much do you practice by yourself?'' he asked.

  ''T-Three or four... times a week''.

  ''Where?''

  ''There's a spot at... the side of the sch- ool'', Mihashi said, still somewhat nervous, ''Near the back gate''.

  Abe nodded and thought about Mihashi's answer for a second.

  ''I want to see it''.

  ''O- kay'', Mihashi answered after a moment.

  ''We'll go after this'', he said as he handed the ball to Mihashi, ''Ten more, then we'll stretch your arm''.

  A nod.

  Abe turned around and trotted back to the catcher's box.

 

\-----

 

''Here'', Mihashi said as he turned around a corner, disappearing from Abe's sight for a second.

  When he followed the blonde around the corner, the first thing he noticed was the grid on the wall. He walked right over to it and ran his finger across the chalk.

   _There really is nine parts._

  ''You usually practice here?'' he asked as he rubbed off the white dust form his fingers.

  ''I have a- target at home'', Mihashi answered.

  Abe looked at the grid a few seconds longer, then turned his gaze back to Mihashi. He should ask before it was too late.

  ''You ever thought about playing again?''

  He could see how Mihashi's light skin drained of the little color it had. The blonde bit his lip and turned to stare at the ground at Abe's feet. Abe wanted to say a few selected words, along the lines of 'why did you throw away all that work' or 'why did you stop even when you had that much skill', but held back. As Sakaeguchi had told him, shouting his opinion at Mihashi was not going to help even a little bit.

  Instead, he waited. And he would wait for as long as it would take.

  Abe didn't count the seconds, but he was sure it took at least a minute before Mihashi opened his mouth.

  ''Yeah''.

  Abe could feel the anger swell up immediately.

   _Why, why, why?_

  Why had Mihashi thrown away all that work when he graduated from junior high? He said that it was because of him that his old team had lost, but that was impossible. He was good, almost too good. Besides, a team can't lose simply because of its pitcher. It must have been the catcher, right? He probably had a bad lead or something. He hadn't been able to use Mihashi's abilities well enough, if at all. Mihashi had said that his old catcher probably hated him, right? Was their relationship really that tense? Or was it the other teammates?

  Nevertheless, Mihashi had taken the mound, stood there in the middle of it all, and lost. Even after losing, he had taken the mound again. He refused to give it up. He had lost again and again, but still he pitched. He never gave up.

  Before graduating, at least.

  And now, he said that he had thought about playing again. He had thought about it at least once. He had thought about playing again, even when he had gotten nervous when pitching in front of Abe's teammates.

   _What the hell happened to make him like this?_

  ''You-'', Abe started, noticing how tense his voice was. He closed his eyes and touched his chin with his hand, taking a deep breath and a second to calm down.

  ''You've thought about it?''

  Again, it took a moment before Mihashi answered.

  ''S-Sometimes''.

  Abe nodded and thought about his suggestion for a moment before asking it, carefully arranging the words in his mind before saying it out loud.

  ''You could play with us, if you want''.

  ''They like you, you know. Especially Tajima'', Abe continued, ''And Sakaeguchi''.

  He wasn't able to say much more in an attempt to get Mihashi's approval.

  ''I think you're a good pitcher''.

  There. He had laid out all his cards. Mihashi's answer was the only thing he needed. An answer he only had to wait for.

  Abe waited. Then he waited a little more. When he didn't get his answer, he sighed through his nose.

  ''You should at least think about it''.

  He glanced at the chalked grid again.

  ''And you won't be needing this anymore'', he said.

  Mihashi lifted his face to look at him, confused.

  ''This'', he said, pointing at the grid.

  ''I mean, if you want to pitch, you can just tell me''.

  He felt awkward saying that. To cover it, he took a step back away from the grid, scratching his neck and huffing a little.

  ''We should go'', he said, ''It's going to be really dark soon''.

  The sun was now partially hidden behind the apartment buildings across the street, about to touch the horizon.

  When Abe turned around to head home, he could hear Mihashi's shoes shuffle against the sand. It didn't take long for them to come to a stop. Confused, Abe stopped as well and partially turned around to look at Mihashi, now standing still, his glove in his hands and clutched against his chest. He was looking straight at Abe.

  ''I'll... come''.

  ''On Sunday. I'll come''.

  Abe could feel the slight tug of a smile.

  ''Okay'', he said.

  Mihashi's tense appearance relaxed, and he smiled a little.

  ''I'll see you tomorrow'', Abe said, taking half a step forwards.

  ''See- you'', Mihashi answered.

  With that, they separated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *looks at all the phrases i keep reapeating* *SWEATS*  
> update slightly earlier than usual because i have to actually sleep tonight haha
> 
> tbh most of the time i feel i write ppl out of character because i don't, uhhh like, think that 'oh this guy is empathetic and this other guy is a little overzealous and this third dude gets things way late' i just kinda pick up their reactions to different things and how they do things and just kind of put together their characters that way??? for example when i wrote hamada commenting on abe that he's too serious for his own good, i was kinda like 'wait what is he?' after i wrote it and then i was like 'oh. he sorta is'. idk how else to describe it than to i don't know what i'm writing before i've written it. i have a weird way of doing things.
> 
> the sweet lil anon who sent me a message: ily. and a message like that won't pressure me haha. tbh i was kind of having a shitty day thanks to the fact that i have to work at the school's stable for a week, i had just started it and was really tired and pissy, so thank you so much, you made my day (if not whole week)! :> (i'm not going to answer it as i want to keep it in my inbox haha)


	5. The First

Suyama sneezed, the dog hair itching his nose.

  He petted the large dog lying down on top of him, it’s full weight heavy on him. When he made a sound, the dog wagged it’s tails a few times, slapping against the sofa underneath him.

  When the doorbell rang and the dog shifted it’s weight to jump up, Suyama grunted loudly. With a few barks, the dog was at the door, whining at it. It’s owner stood up from the sofa and walked to the door, placing his hand on the door handle.

  ’’Away’’, he said, his voice firm.

  The dog whined a little more, then turned around to go sit few meters away. When it was sitting down calmly, it’s front paws neatly next to each other, Suyama opened the door.

  Sakaeguchi lifted his eyes from the phone in his hands, a smile stretching his lips as he did so.

  ’’Hey’’, he said, stepping in when Suyama made room for him in the doorway.

  When Sakaeguchi saw the dog, he immediately walked over to it to pet it and mess with its floppy ears.

  ’’Hello to you too’’, he said, his voice a little more high pitched.

  ’’At least take off your jacket’’, Suyama chuckled as he closed the door. He watched as his boyfriend played with his dog, which was now lying down on the floor, belly up. Sakaeguchi was blabbering nonsense as he ran his fingers through the the soft, thin fur.

  ’’Sakaeguchi’’, he called when he didn’t get an answer. The other boy moved his attention from the dog to it’s owner, slightly pouting from getting interrupted.

  ’’Your jacket’’.

  With a quick motion, he stripped off his jacket and handed it to Suyama before returning his full attention to the furball in front of him.

  Suyama shook his head a little and put away Sakaeguchi’s jacket. He walked past his dog and it’s fervent petter and plopped back down on the sofa, smiling to himself as he watched the duo.

  ’’Daiki’’, he called.

  His dog immediately jumped onto it’s feet and trotted to him, leaving Sakaeguchi behind. He smirked when he saw Sakaeguchi’s pouting face.

  ’’You did that on purpose’’, he huffed.

  ’’Yeah’’, Suyama chuckled and patted the sofa next to him. Daiki jumped up onto the sofa and leaned itself against him, settling down comfortably next to him.

  Sakaeguchi stood up, brushed off some of the hairs stuck on his pants, and followed Daiki onto the sofa.

 

\-----

 

Daiki walked at the end of the leather leash, as far as he could without pulling on it. Both Sakaeguchi and Suyama could hear the snorting sound Daiki made as he sniffed the ground, his excessively large lips flapping as he did so.

  ’’It’s a little hard to believe Daiki’s supposed to be eight’’, Sakaeguchi said.

  Suyama hummed, Daiki’s leash in hand and walking next to the other boy.

  ’’He’ll turn nine soon’’.

  The cold air of the late evening bit their cheekbones and reddened their cheeks. They were approaching the university, the corner of the thick concrete fence in sight. Suyama whistled at Daiki, which approached him and started walking closer to him and sat down next to him as they stopped at the crossroad.

  After they crossed the street and Suyama praised Daiki, Sakaeguchi noticed a familiar blonde walking towards them, his attention fully on the phone in his hands.

  Sakaeguchi pulled on Suyama’s arm, stopping him. Daiki pulled on the leash for a second before noticing the sudden stop.

  The blonde was getting closer slowly.

  ’’Mihashi!’’ Sakaeguchi called, effectively grabbing the boy’s attention. His eyes shot up from his phone, surprised, and noticed the duo at the corner of the street.

  ’’Hi’’, Sakaeguchi said. He could see from the corner of his eye how Daiki got excited, wagging its tail wildly from side to side.

  When Mihashi noticed the dog at the duo’s feet, he froze in place.

  ’’H-Hello’’, he sputtered, his attention now on the dog.

  ’’Late night snacks?’’ Sakaeguchi asked, noticing the plastic bag hanging from Mihashi’s hand. When the blonde nodded to answer his question, he noticed that Mihashi had frozen in place when he had seen Daiki.

  ’’Ah, this is Daiki’’, he said, the dog looking up at him at the mention of it’s name.

  ’’He’s very friendly’’.

  Daiki panted, wagging his tail in such a wide motion that it hit his sides.

  ’’Your tail will fall off’’, Suyama chuckled.

  Mihashi was still frozen in place, not moving even a little bit.

  ’’Are... you afraid of dogs?’’ Sakaeguchi asked, receiving a small nod from the blonde.

  ’’I promise he won’t bite’’, he continued as he squatted down next to the excited dog, petting him lightly on his head.

  Mihashi didn’t answer, but after a few seconds, he slowly walked closer, stopping a couple of meters away. Daiki was now even more excited, if it even was possible, pulling on his leash towards Mihashi.

  ’’Daiki’s eight now, he’s turning nine in, what, two months?’’

  Sakaeguchi took Daiki’s ears into his hands, pulling on them softly and pushing them up and down.

  ’’He’s mixed breed’’, he continued as he motioned Mihashi to squat down as well. After a second of doubt, Mihashi complied, setting down the plastic bag between his legs.

   ’’He likes belly rubs and his favorite food is tuna’’, Sakaeguchi hummed.

  ’’He steals sandwiches and still thinks he’s a small puppy’’, he chuckled, ’’He loves to sit in people’s lap even when he’s so big’’.

  Mihashi was staring at the dog with caution as Sakaeguchi babbled on about it. He swallowed thickly as he slowly reached out his hand, letting Daiki sniff him.

  Daiki calmed down for a second as he smelled Mihashi’s hand, then pushed his head against the blonde’s fingers, trying to earn a pet.

  Carefully, Mihashi scratched the top of Daiki’s head. He couldn’t help but smile slightly as the dog’s eyes half-shut with content.

  When Mihashi petted Daiki, Sakaeguchi took the dog’s ears into his hands and pulled them upwards, towards the sky. Daiki didn’t mind it when his ears were messed with, instead kept the content look and wagged his tail.

  Mihashi giggled a little as he watched Sakaeguchi move around Daiki’s ears, moving them from side to side and pulling them lightly backwards towards himself, effectively pulling on the small amount of excess skin on the dog’s face.

  When Mihashi’s phone beeped, Sakaeguchi let go of Daiki’s ears. He watched as Mihashi turned his attention from the dog to his phone.

  A small yelp escaped from Mihashi’s lips as Daiki pushed against him, going after the hand that had petted him. Mihashi fell onto the ground, catching himself with his hands.

  ’’Daiki’’, Suyama called with a firm voice.

  Daiki backed away from Mihashi and stared at it’s owner. When Suyama pointed at the ground, Daiki sat down obediently.

  ’’Sorry about that’’, he said.

  ’’I-It’s okay’’, Mihashi said as he took his plastic bag and phone and stood up with Sakaeguchi.

  ’’You going home?’’ Sakaeguchi asked from the blonde, nodding towards the dorm, which was visible through a row of trees a small way off.

  ’’Ye- s’’.

  ’’Me too’’, Sakaeguchi said, ’’So we can go together’’.

  ’’I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?’’ he said to Suyama, who nodded.

  ’’Yeah’’, the boy answered.

  ’’See y-you!’’ Mihashi said to Suyama, who turned to cross the road with Daiki, waving his hand a little in goodbye.

  ’’You have everything?’’ Sakaeguchi asked from the blonde, who nodded.

  ’’Let’s go, then’’.

  One of the smaller gates was a small way off, a little less than half way through the street. The dorm was right next to the gate and was the closest one to the small supermarket Mihashi had visited.

  Sakaeguchi let the silence be for a short while as Mihashi was focused on his phone. When he tucked it away into his pocket, Sakaeguchi spoke up.

  ’’You pitched with Abe yesterday, right?’’ he asked.

  ’’Yes’’.

  ’’How was it?’’ he asked.

  ’’I mean-’’, he huffed before the blonde could answer, opened the gate and let Mihashi pass before him.

  ’’Abe can be, well, short tempered’’, he said, ’’And I’ve told him multiple times that getting angry with people is not going to help him, but he doesn’t always listen, you know? And he’s not a great talker, to be honest. He keeps to himself’’.

  ’’Well, he’s not that bad, I suppose. But we’ve known for some years now and- well’’.

  ’’I just hope he didn’t yell at you for no reason or anything like that’’.

  When Sakaeguchi fell silent, they turned the corner to the front of the dorm.

  ’’He... didn’t. It was o-okay. I liked it’’, Mihashi said, ’’I liked p-pitching with him’’.

  As Mihashi said that, Sakaeguchi could feel his shoulders relax a little.

  ’’Good. Thats- good’’, he said as he opened the front door with his keys, ’’That’s really good. Did he say anything else?’’

  Mihashi was silent for a second and they reached the bottom of the stairs before he spoke.

  ’’He asked... me to join the p-practice’’.

  ’’W-With you guys’’.

  ’’He did?’’

   A high pitched hum.

  ’’That’s great’’, Sakaeguchi said, ’’I’m a little bit surprised, but I think it’s a great idea’’.

  He gave the blonde a small smile as they walked up the stairs. They were on the third floor already.

  ’’We can’t practice much after a couple of weeks, though’’.

  ’’At least outside. We may get the permission to use the team’s stuff, though. And there’s always the option to play other sports, if anything’’.

  ’’I suppose you should enjoy it while we still can practice outside’’.

  They stopped in their tracks when they reached the fourth floor, where Mihashi’s room was on.

  ’’See you tomorrow’’, Sakaeguchi said, smiling warmly.

  ’’S-See you!’’ Mihashi chirped, watching as the other boy turned away to trot up the stairs and waving him a little as he reached the landing between the floors. The blonde waved back, the motion short.

  He turned around and walked to his door, opening it with his keys.

 

\-----

 

_Baby steps._

  When Abe walked into the classroom, he quickly scanned the room for the familiar mop of blond. Noticing him in the far corner of the room, he weaved through the students and their backpacks and bags scattered on the floor.

  ’’Hey’’, he said when he got close enough. Mihashi’s eyes shot up to meet his.

  ’’H-Hi’’.

  Abe sat down on the empty seat next to the blonde, setting down his bag. He didn’t bother with taking out his books and other things before the professor would come through the door, voice booming in the classroom as usual.

  The only thing Abe could come up with as a common interest was baseball, so it had to do for now.

  ’’Do... Do you want to pitch again? Today?’’

  If he’d want to get through to Mihashi with his suggestion, he’d need to build some trust first. Well, some might not be enough. He’d probably have to earn Mihashi’s full trust before even attempting.

  ’’Tomorrow’s fine, too’’.

  ’’T-Today. Today... is good’’.

  Abe nodded.

  ’’The field or...?’’

  ’’... F-Field’’.

  ’’The same as the day before yesterday, then. I’ll send you a message’’.

  A quick, silent nod.

_What on earth can I talk about with this guy?_

  Abe remembered the many questions he had about the blonde’s junior high team.

 _I_ _t’s fine if I ask, right?_

  ’’You-’’, he started, taking a moment to organize his thoughts and words better, ’’You said your old catcher hated you. How come?

  Mihashi flipped through nervously a couple of pages of his book.

  ’’H-He... There was a-another pitcher... on the team’’.

  Abe waited for the blonde to speak up again, for him to give up more information.

  ’’I refused to gi- ve up pitching, so... They wanted h-him to pitch’’.

  ’’Instead of... me’’.

  Abe nodded, seeing the professor enter the room, greeting the students loudly and shuffling with his materials. He might be able to dig up few more broken sentences from the blonde.

  ’’H-He... He’d break...’’, Mihashi started, his voice getting quieter with every syllable, ’’My arm. He said t-that’’.

  ’’He said-’’, Abe almost shouted, remembering the professor and other students in the room and forced his voice down.

  ’’He  _threatened_ you?’’

  No answer, just nervous page flipping.

  ’’Did he go through with it?’’

  A mild headshake.

  Abe nodded, mainly to himself. The threat had remained empty, which was, of course, good. Still, a threat was a threat and most likely it had scared the blonde greatly.

  ’’... Anything else?’’

  ’’N-Not really’’.

_T_ _here must be more._

  Abe sighed lightly through his nose, taking out the stuff he needed for the class out of his bag.

  He tapped his pen repeatedly against the desk, not really listening to his professor at the front of the class. He glanced at the blonde, who was still nervously flipping through the pages in his book.

_There definitely was more._

 

\-----

 

The Sunday morning had been cold, but the sun had managed to warm up the air in a few hours.

  Mihashi sent his answer for Tajima and shoved his phone into the pocket of his sweat pants. He put his glove into his bag, along with a spare shirt and a filled water bottle.

  He grabbed his keys from the kitchen table as he walked past it, the keys jingling in his hand as he put on his shoes and jacket. He almost crashed through his door, quickly closing it behind him with a click. He walked quickly, almost jogged to the stairs and jumped them down two or three at a time.

  He was out of the front door with the same urgency. He hurried towards the baseball field, his excitement making him jittery and bouncy. With his speed, it didn’t take long for him to reach the field.

  He opened the door and trotted in, seeing few others scattered across the field. He recognized Chiyo and Sakaeguchi in the dugout, Hanai and Mizutani carrying some equipment out on the field and finally Abe going towards the dugout with a large bag.

  Mihashi headed towards the dugout, approaching it from the opposite side from Abe. The blonde reached it first, greeting the two in the dugout.

  ’’Hey’’, Abe said as he got closer.

  ’’H-Hello’’.

  Mihashi was standing in front of the dugout while Abe stepped down into it, setting down the bag he had and opening it to reveal the bats inside.

  ’’We should probably get the other bag as well’’, Chiyo said, counting the bats inside the bag.

  Abe answered with an agreeing hum.

  ’’You could go get them with Mihashi, to show him around’’, Chiyo suggested.

  ’’I’ll take care of those’’, Sakaeguchi said.

  ’’Thanks’’, Abe huffed, leaving the bag on the ground and hopped out of the dugout.

  ’’It’s this way’’, he said to Mihashi, motioning towards the way he had previously came from. The blonde followed him as he walked towards the storage at the side of the field.

  ’’The bullpen is over there’’, he said, pointing to the fenced area at the side of field, ’’And the storage is over here. There’s not much else, to be honest’’.

  It took a moment for their eyes to adjust to the dim lighting of the room.

  When he could see enough to make out the other bag, he flung it over his shoulder and went back to Mihashi, who was waiting for him in the doorway.

  They were half-way back when Abe spoke up.

  ’’I suppose I should tell you, so that it won’t be that much of a surprise’’, he started.

  ’’There’s this.... exercise. Meditation. To help with focusing and calming down’’.

  Mihashi glanced up at him, a confused look on his face.

  ’’Something to do with alpha waves. Even after three years, I never really understood it. We could have stopped doing it after we graduated, but it kind of... stuck’’.

  ’’It’s a really good exercise, though. Effective’’.

  ’’W-What kind of... exercise?’’

  Abe frowned slightly, looking for words to describe something even he didn’t really understand.

  ’’You know, it’s... You focus on your palms and-’’, he said, not exactly grasping the thought.

  ’’Alright, give me your hand’’.

  He offered his hand to Mihashi, palm towards him and fingers pointing upwards. Mihashi glanced at his offered hand, then at him. The blonde’s brows were slightly furrowed in a confused frown.

  ’’It’ll be easier to explain’’.

  After a second of doubt, Mihashi complied, placing his palm against Abe’s. Mihashi’s palms were cool to touch and Abe could feel multiple calluses on the blonde’s hand.

  ’’You focus on the feeling on your hands. If your hands are cold, you imagine receiving warmth from the other person, and if your hands are warm you imagine giving away your warmth. To balance things around, you know. We do this for a few of minutes and-’’, Abe explained, the thought running away from him in the middle.

  ’’Hanai is a lot better at explaining this’’, he huffed, ’’He’ll explain it to you’’.

  ’’O-Okay’’, Mihashi answered and pulled away his hand, the tips of his fingers lightly dragging along Abe’s palm as he did so.

  ’’I can ask him when we get back’’.

  A nod from Mihashi and Abe adjusted the bag on his shoulder, turning back towards the dugout. When they got back and Abe had put down the bats, he called Hanai over.

  ’’Mind explaining him this?’’ Abe asked, wiggling his fingers in the air.

  ’’Sure’’, Hanai answered and sat down next to the blonde, now sitting on the bench.

  When Abe turned around to leave the two on the bench, he saw Suyama close the gate into the field behind him. Daiki was along with him, spinning the leash around his legs. Suyama shook off the leash and stepped out of it, coiling it in his hand in large loops.

  Daiki pulled on his leash as they made their way to the dugout.

  When Suyama stepped down into the dugout, he handed Daiki’s leash to Abe, who in turn stepped out of the dugout to sit down with the dog.

  Daiki wagged his tail happily as Abe scratched a spot on its neck, knowing full well where the dog’s favorite spots were. He could hear laughter from the dugout, but he didn’t really focus on hearing what was going on inside of it.

  Instead, he focused his attention on the dog licking his fingers and palm.

  After a minute or two, he could hear chatter from the gate. When he glanced in its direction, he saw the rest of the team trickling through the gate one by one.

  ’’Hey!’’ Tajima shouted from ways off.

  With it, multiple heads popped out of the dugout to greet him and the others. They either shouted back or waved their hands.

  ’’Are we starting right away?’’ Izumi asked.

  ’’Preferably’’, Hanai answered, ’’Probably better to leave jackets on’’.

  Others hummed in agreement. If they were going to stand still for a few minutes, they’d get cold quickly. When they had left their bags in the dugout, all of them stepped out of it and formed a large circle.

  The explanation Hanai had given Mihashi had more or less gone over his head. He’d catched the main points, though.

  ’’Okay, ready?’’ Hanai asked, and when he got no negative responses, he took the hands of the boys standing next to him, Izumi and Nishihiro’s. Others followed his example, including Mihashi.

  ’’Third base runner’’, Hanai said and everybody closed their eyes.

  During the few minutes they stood still, Mihashi felt clearly how much cooler his hands were when compared to Abe and Tajima. No matter how much he tried to imagine receiving warmth from them, he didn’t succeed.

  Sooner than Mihashi imagined, Hanai spoke up, breaking the heavy silence.

  ’’Everybody, go to your usual positions’’.

  With it, everybody dispersed into few different directions, leaving Mihashi stand alone. He did think about asking Tajima what he should do, but he had already disappeared somewhere from his side. Even Sakaeguchi had disappeared somewhere.

  ’’Hey, Mihashi’’, Abe called.

  Mihashi quickly turned around and took the few steps required to hop down into the dugout, where Abe was putting on his catcher gear.

  ’’Help me with these, would you?’’

  ’’O-Okay!’’ Mihashi chirped, taking one of Abe’s leg guards and starting to put it on for him.

  When Abe had on all his gear except for his mask, he motioned for Mihashi to follow him.

  ’’Take your glove’’, he said as the blonde almost left the dugout without it.

  The boy quickly spun around, grabbed his glove and jumped out of the dugout. He saw the others split up into four groups, scattered across the field.

  ’’We should come up with proper signals sooner or later’’, Abe said as he walked towards the bullpen, the blonde on his heels.

  ’’We can’t use the ’pitch where my mitt is’ forever’’.

  When Abe suddenly stopped inside the bullpen, Mihashi almost ran into him.

  ’’Want to make them now?’’ he asked.

  One look at blonde told him his answer.

  ’’Fine’’, he said, a faint chuckle in his voice, ’’We’ll come up with them later’’.

  Mihashi had the half smile, half smirk on his lips when he hurried onto the mound.

  ’’Fifty pitches, no more’’, Abe said, pulled on his mask and crouched down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I KINDA WANT TO HURRY WINTER SO I CAN WRITE ALL KINDS OF NICE SCENES
> 
> yeah the lil notebook i got for this  
> it's filling up with random info and ideas maybe a lil too quickly  
> and oh god i had to make myself a simple map of where everything is and where everybody lives so that i can be completely sure and check if needed to....... i have the worst dimension sense ever haha


	6. Rock, Paper, Scissors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> psssst, i did a lil [soundtrack for this](https://8tracks.com/tarzaness/sunday-baseball), check it out if you want to
> 
> ALSO THANK U JULIA FOR CREATING ME ONE HELL OF A CUTIEPIE OF AN OC (ueda is too precious and I LOVE HIM) AND BETAING THIS AND JUST USING STICK AND CARROT METHOD TO GET ME TO WRITE, LOTS OF LOVE YOUR WAY

As Abe caught Mihashi’s thirtieth pitch, he didn’t immediately return the ball to the mound. For a second, he thought about his options; to go through with his idea or just giving up and leaving it be for now. No. If he wanted to someday form a proper battery with the blonde and reach his goal, this would be a small step closer to it.

_First thing to do is to try to jam some confidence into him._

 With a huff, he stood up and jogged towards confused looking Mihashi.

 ’’You haven’t pitched to a batter in a while, right?’’

 ’’N-No.’’

 Abe nodded slightly, wondering how the blonde will react to his proposal. Well, he might have already guessed it.

 ’’Do you want to? We could ask for three batters.’’

 Abe watched as Mihashi’s hands rise up to his stomach to slightly pull his shirt. He cocked a brow for a second, realizing for the first time that it was Mihashi’s nervous habit.

 Mihashi was looking at the ground, but whatever his eyes were focused on wasn’t the mound between his feet. Abe did think about retracting his suggestion and saying something, but swallowed down the words before he could say them.

 The blonde wrung his shirt a little and swallowed before lifting his eyes to Abe’s.

 ’’O-Okay.’’

 Abe nodded, gave the ball in his hand to Mihashi and left the mound shouting the captain’s name.

 Mihashi looked at the ball in his hands, gripping it tightly. He thought about all the hits on him back in junior high, the runs made off of him and the icy glares of his teammates.

 According to Abe’s teammates, he had a good lead. Besides, it wasn’t like it would be like an actual game. He’d just pitch in practice, not in an actual game. Being hit was never fun, but at least now the batters wouldn’t be able to make any runs.

 It didn’t take long for Abe to jog back to the mound and the pitcher on it.

 ’’They’ll be ready in a minute. Do you remember the signs?’’

 ’’I d-do.’’

 ’’Good’’, Abe said as he lifted his hand to offer it to Mihashi, ’’Gimme your hand.’’

 Mihashi pressed his palm against the catcher’s. Abe’s hand was warm and rough against his.

 ’’You can just follow my lead’’, Abe said.

 ’’Relax.’’

 The blonde gave him a nod, pressing his lips together. He pulled back his hand and arm and pushed his fingers back into his glove, leaving Abe’s hand in the air for a second before he did the same.

 ’’We’ll see if we can get them to strike out,” Abe said, earning another nod from Mihashi.

 In a couple of minutes, the others, who had until now been scattered across the field, were now standing in front of the dugout.

 ’’Sakaeguchi and Suyama will take the infield,’’ Hanai instructed.

 ’’Nishihiro, Oki and Mizutani, outfield.’’

 While Izumi put on his helmet and protectors, the five appointed fielders jogged into their positions. Neither Mihashi nor Abe had moved from the mound, and they watched as Izumi stepped out of the dugout and both Hanai and Tajima started putting on their own gear.

 Abe glanced at his pitcher, whose shoulders had slightly lurched forward, sighing a little when he saw how the blonde had went from excited to nervous as soon as a batter had appeared.

 ’’Just follow my lead’’, he said, trying his best to sound as reassuring as he could.

 Mihashi glanced at him, eyes full of worry and lips thin. Abe was sure that if the blonde’s hands weren’t occupied with his glove and the ball, he would have been messing with the front of his shirt.

 ’’You’ll be okay.’’

 A second of hesitation and Mihashi nodded, relaxing just a little. Abe was relieved to see the subtle change in him, though he wasn’t sure how long it would last. Hopefully at least until he went to crouch down at home plate.

 He smacked his mitt-covered hand awkwardly against Mihashi’s chest.

 ’’Three strikes’’, he huffed.

 Mihashi was surprised at first, but it took only a second for his face to brighten up.

 ’’O-Okay!’’ he chirped.

 Abe left the mound just as awkwardly, trodding to the catcher’s box and turning around to see Mihashi’s much more relaxed appearance. He scratched the side of his nose, brows knitted together.

 ’’He’s suddenly all glitter and sunshine’’, Izumi commented, clearly not expecting a response from the other boy.

 They waited for Hamada to jump out of the dugout and stand behind them, a spare mask and a chest guard on.

 Hamada took the umpire’s position, Abe pulled his mask onto his face and crouched down, and Izumi stood in the batter’s box to his left. He would be batting first, then Hanai and finally Tajima.

 ’’Ready’’, Izumi said as he took his stance.

 Mihashi leaned forward, the ball behind his back, ready to receive Abe’s signs. His focus didn’t move from the catcher even for a second.

 Abe signaled for a slider, a strike into the upper right corner.

 Just as requested, the pitch was close to the edge of the strike zone. As Abe had guessed, Izumi watched the first pitch, not flinching even a little as it went over the homeplate.

 ’’Strike!’’ Hamada shouted.

 The next sign was for a fastball down the middle. Izumi flinched as he saw the pitch, but held back on trying to hit. When the ball sunk into Abe’s mitt and Hamada yelled out the strike, Abe glanced over at Izumi. He saw the confused look on the freckled boy’s face, confirming his own suspicions.

 ’’Strike!’’

 The third pitch Abe asked for was a fastball down the middle. When he finished giving the sign, he noticed how Mihashi’s face contorted with worry. He didn’t shake his head, though, even when it seemed like he would for a second.

 When Mihashi stretched out to pitch, Abe could see Izumi grip on the bat just a little tighter, preparing to hit.

 When the ball crossed the rubber and Izumi swung his bat, Abe allowed himself to smirk a little. The ball hit his mitt with a thud after Izumi had clearly whiffed it.

 ’’Three strikes, batter out!’’

 ’’Nice ball!’’ Abe shouted to Mihashi as he stood up to throw the ball back to the mound. The blonde seemed to flinch with the compliment, the ball barely ending up in his glove.

 Izumi left the batter’s box, a confused look on his face, and got replaced by Hanai.

 ’’Please’’, Hanai said, lifting the bat onto his shoulder and taking his stance.

 Abe looked at his relaxed, yet anticipating pose.

_Of course he takes this seriously._

 Abe moved his attention from Hanai to his pitcher. It wasn’t surprising that Mihashi was now a little intimated; after all, he had seen Hanai hit in a game before. He had the power to hit home runs and his already good eye had only gotten better during their three years of high school. Still, Abe was confident that he could get him to strike out.

 He signaled for a curve to the low middle, outside of the zone. Mihashi nodded and pitched as asked.

 ’’Ball!’’

 The next pitch Abe asked for was a fastball to the same place.

 Hanai moved, his foot grating against the ground and his bat whiffing under the ball.

 ’’Strike!’’

 When Abe turned to look at his face, he saw the same confusion that had been on Izumi’s face.

 One ball return and a sign for a curve to the lower left corner later, Mihashi pitched again. Abe had requested a pitch that would go from a ball to a strike, and that was exactly what Mihashi pitched.

 Hanai had watched the ball, still some remnants of the confusion on his face.

 ’’Strike!’’

 Hanai swung his bat in the air twice before returning to his stance, brows knitted together.

 Abe gave a sign for a fastball down the middle. It didn’t matter if it would be a strike or a ball, as the count was in his favor.

 When the ball left Mihashi’s hand, Hanai flinched, waited, and swung. His bat gave a faint crack as the ball lightly touched it, only to continue it’s way into Abe’s mitt and resulting in a foul tip.

 ’’Three strikes!’’

 When Hanai left the batter’s box, he stopped Tajima in his tracks to replace him.

 The shorter boy looked up to him, waiting for an explanation.

 ’’It floats.’’ Hanai said, ’’The fastball.’’

 ’’What?’’ Tajima asked, ’’Floats?’’

 ’’It... It just does’’, Hanai said, not knowing how to describe it.

 ’’You’ll see.’’

 With it, Tajima went into the batter’s box with a little more anticipation.

 ’’His fastball is weird, isn’t it?’’ Izumi asked from Hanai when he hopped down into the dugout.

 Izumi was scratching Daiki’s head, its tail slapping the ground lazily. The dog was lying down on the ground of the dugout half-asleep.

 Hanai nodded and took off his helmet and gloves.

 ’’I have no other way to describe it than to say that it floats.’’

 Izumi crooked a brow for him, a smirk tugging his lips.

 ’’I know it sounds stupid’’, Hanai chuckled, ’’But that’s what it seems like.’’

 ’’Sure’’, Izumi said and stood up from Daiki’s side and went out of the dugout with Hanai. They watched as Tajima swung his bat and the ball sunk into Abe’s mitt.

 ’’Strike!’’ Hanai shouted.

 Abe gave a signal for another curve, this time to lower right corner, as far from Tajima’s reach as possible but still inside the zone.

 Tajima’s bat cracked as he fouled the ball.

 ’’Foul ball!’’

 Tajima adjusted his grip, holding the bat a little longer and returned to his stance.

 This time, Abe asked for a fastball down the middle.

 The change in Mihashi’s expression was clear. He pressed his lips together and swallowed hard. Abe was pretty sure he wasn’t breathing for a few seconds. Then, the blonde nodded and stretched out to pitch.

 Mihashi flinched as he heard the loud crack Tajima’s bat gave as he swung. The ball flew upwards into a pop fly.

 Abe stood up and threw off his mask behind him, keeping his eyes on the ball. He took a few steps forward and caught the ball, the ball sinking into his mitt with a soft thud.

 ’’Batter out!’’

 With it, the five fielders started towards the dugout. When Sakaeguchi got to the mound, he pulled Mihashi along with him.

 ’’Nice pitching!’’ he said to the blonde, smiling widely.

 Suyama echoed his words as they jogged towards the dugout.

 ’’Mihashi,” Abe called as the blonde was about to pass him, causing him to skid to a stop and turn to look at him. When Abe motioned him to come closer, he complied.

 ’’Nice pitching’’, Abe said, a light smile curling his lips.

 ’’How’d you like it? Pitching to a batter.’’

 The blonde glanced at the ground, seemingly wondering his answer for a second.

 ’’I l-liked... it’’, he said, lifting his eyes from the ground.

 ’’Good’’, Abe said, ’’Let’s get you cooled down.’’

 

\-----

 

Tonight’s walk home, it was just Hanai and Abe. Normally Chiyo was with them, but she was staying the night at Mizutani’s for once.

 As the distance between the baseball field and their apartment complex was short, they walked slowly in order to have time to talk.

 ’’You knew it, didn’t you?’’ Hanai asked.

 ’’Knew what?’’

 ’’That his fastball is weird.’’

 ’’I’ve caught it multiple times. So yes, I did.’’

 Hanai chuckled to himself and shook his head a little.

 ’’You have any explanation for it?’’

 ’’It drops less than you expect. The first time I caught it, I thought it’d go low’’, Abe explained, ’’And, of course, it didn’t.’’

 Hanai gave him a hum and they fell silent for a second.

 ’’... You’re going to ask him to play in the game, aren’t you?’’

 ’’We can’t win with Oki alone.’’

 Hanai didn’t answer at first.

 ’’I suppose we can’t.’’

 ’’Don’t get angry if he refuses.’’

 ’’Yeah, yeah. I won’t.’’

 

\-----

 

_What’s the best way to get him to agree?_

 Abe was lying down in his bed, hands resting on top of his stomach. He stared at the small bumps in the ceiling that the plaster formed, eyes wandering between them.

 Mihashi was a good pitcher, yes, but he was a handful to say the least. He had little to no self confidence, was jumpy and seemed to be either nervous or scared over smallest things.

 Abe remembered how the blonde’s face had contorted as he had signed for a fastball down the middle.

_... Was he scared of challenging the batter?_

 He remembered, once again, how Mihashi had said that his old catcher hadn’t given him any signs. If he didn’t give any signs to Mihashi, the blonde was left alone on the mound. He would’ve had to decide the mix of the pitches himself. Taking into consideration how slow Mihashi’s fastball was and how much the blonde seemed to hate pitching into the middle of the strike zone, he would’ve probably tried his best to run away from the batter with breaking balls and aiming at the sides of the zone.

_It’d make sense._

 Abe started counting the small bumps, probably counting some of them at least twice, sinking into his thoughts.

_What if Mihashi had come to Nishiura?_

 Would it have been any different? Would he have been able to give the blonde some confidence in himself and his pitches? Would he have been able to use his abilities to their fullest?

 As Hanai had said, past was the past.

 Their most important game of their third year of high school had ended in their loss. They hadn’t made any mistakes, their game had been close to perfect. Still, they had lost.

_Could’ve we won if Mihashi had been with us?_

 There was no changing what had happened.

 

\-----

 

Abe had gotten Mihashi to agree to pitch with him on Tuesday after school. This time, instead of going to the school field, they were going to use the secluded spot at the side of the school. They’d meet there as soon as they had their gear.

 Surprisingly enough, Abe was the first one to arrive. He hadn’t bothered with taking anything else than his mask and mitt. He wanted to trust Mihashi’s pitching that much, and if anything, it’d pressure the blonde to pitch even more accurately.

 He was watching the partially faded grid on the wall when he heard shuffling footsteps behind him.

 ’’H... Hello’’, Mihashi said behind him, his glove and a ball in hand.

 ’’Hey’’, Abe answered.

 A light pink colored Mihashi’s cheeks, maybe he’d ran from the dorm to here.

 ’’You warmed up?’’

 A quick nod from the blonde. He had definitely ran from the dorm, as his chest was rising and falling more than usual.

 ’’Then we can start right away’’, Abe said as he walked to the fence, crouching down in front of it.

 He was about to pull on his mask when he saw Mihashi’s face. The blonde was staring at him, seeming like he wanted to say something, his fingers clutched around the glove and the ball in his hands.

 ’’I’ll be fine’’, Abe said, shifting his weight forward a little. He left the mask on the top of his head while he rested his hands atop his thighs and waited for the blonde to get ready himself.

 The worried look on Mihashi’s face didn’t leave just yet.

 ’’I’ll be fine, you’ll be fine’’, Abe said, ’’I trust your pitches.’’

 It took a moment for the blonde to give up, pull on his glove, and stand across from Abe. Still, he was clearly unsatisfied and worried.

 Abe pulled on his mask and signed.

 After a couple of pitches, Abe opened his mouth.

 ’’You said liked pitching to a batter last time’’, he said, ’’Was it true?’’

 ’’Y-Yes!’’ Mihashi chirped.

_Good._

 ’’Are you scared of getting a hit?’’

 ’’... A little.’’

 It may or may not have been an understatement. Abe compared his choices. He could right out ask his big question, try to come up with something to say or ask, or let the silence fall around them. The latter ones were most likely the safest choices.

 ’’... Do you think I have a good lead?’’

_And this was the only question I could come up right now._

 Well, Mihashi had seen his lead in a game once before and now had a little first hand experience about it.

 ’’Yes.’’

 Abe nodded, acknowledging the blonde’s answer. He wracked his brain with all the questions he had had last night, but now seemed to have disappeared.

 ’’Since your old catcher didn’t give you signs’’, he said after a moment, ’’Did you have to decide on your pitches yourself?’’

 Mihashi nodded, accompanied by a hum.

 ’’You think you could follow my lead?’’

 Abe wasn’t sure where he was going with his questions, but he supposed he was going at least somewhere.

 ’’Yes!’’

 ’’Against a batter?’’ he asked, receiving another chirpy ’yes’ in answer.

 ’’... In a game?’’

 So that’s how he had come around to it.

 Mihashi didn’t answer nor did he pitch. The ball was stuck in his glove with his other hand.

 ’’I was thinking, and Hanai agreed with me... we thought that you could pitch in the game this Sunday.’’

_Well, at least Hanai hadn’t given him a clear ’no’._

 ’’You wouldn’t have to pitch the whole game. You could relief Oki in the fifth inning or so. You did say you had thought about playing again, and, well... I guess this would be a chance.’’

 Abe paused for a moment, waiting for Mihashi’s answer.

 ’’You can always say no.’’

 ’’I’m... scared of getting a h-hit’’, Mihashi said, adopting the lurched shoulders and hidden face again. ’’M-My pitches a-are... slow, and....’’

 When Abe stood up, took off his mask and strode towards Mihashi, the blonde’s eyes shot up to meet his before moving away from him again.

 Abe’s shoes crunched against the sand as he stopped in his tracks, a small distance between him and the blonde.

 ’’You said you could follow my lead’’, he said, ’’The only thing holding you back is yourself.’’

 ’’If you want to play, even a little, just trust me. Trust my lead.’’

 He sighed through his nose.

 ’’Just let me help you.’’

 

\-----

 

When the team stepped off the bus in front of their old high school, they were greeted by the familiar sight of the school gates and the long slope that led to the school building.

 ’’Three and half years’’, Hanai huffed.

 ’’What? Nostalgic?’’ Tajima laughed, receiving a muttered ’shut up’ in response, which he received with a laugh.

 Mihashi was one of the last ones to get off the bus, and was almost at the back of the group, following the others in front of him. He’d never been to Nishiura before nor had he even seen it, even though the distance between the school and his parent’s house wasn’t that great.

 He followed the group up the slope and past the school building. When they turned a corner, the field came into sight. As may have been excepted, the field was already littered with students in white uniforms. They had to go around the fence to get to the door that would lead them into the field itself.

 As they approached the door, the group’s chatter gradually died down.

 They noticed a boy with short, black hair jogging to the door and practically slamming it open. He was grinning, the corners of his eyes wrinkling.

 ’’Hey!’’ the boy shouted, hanging his weight with his hands from the doorframe.

 ’’Akihiko!’’ Tajima shouted back at the front of the group, running up to the gate and bear-hugging the boy.

 The two talked loudly, laughing here and there as the group followed them onto the field. When they got closer, some of the students started towards them.

  Half of the people standing on the field flinched when a yell scared them.

 ’’Hideki! What the fuck are you doing in my gear!?’’

 The shouted question was followed by laughter and a tall boy scrambling out of the dugout, wearing obviously wrong sized catcher’s gear. He weaved through the students, yelping when he turned to look at his follower and the gear’s owner. The boy called his name again as he went after the taller one, catching up to him fairly quickly and tackling him down.

 ’’Hideki’s at it again’’, Akihiko chuckled, ’’Ueda’s pretty much yelling at him every day.’’

 Hideki yelped and sputtered a laugh when the gear was practically ripped off of him with angry huffs from Ueda.

 Once the situation calmed down, Nishiura’s coach appeared from the gate with the team’s manager. When the group noticed her appearance, all of them, Mihashi included, bowed and greeted her.

 She smiled when they straightened their backs.

 ’’She’s Momoe, our old coach’’, Sakaeguchi explained to Mihashi.

 ’’Long time no see’’, she said, her words echoing from the group.

 She turned to the high schoolers and quickly scanned through them, looking for somebody.

 ’’Hideki!’’ she called, picking up the attention of the boy who was now stripped of the catcher’s gear. When she motioned for him to come over, he collected himself off the ground and jogged to his coach.

 ’’Boys’’, she said, ’’This is Miyamoto Hideki, captain of the team.’’

 ’’Nice to meet you’’, he said and bowed at the group in front of him, his words echoed by them.

 ’’I suppose we can decide the first to go offense right away’’.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i randomly read through my oldest fics, like back from 2010. all i can say is: LET THEM BURN  
> (also so terribly straight fics, but now that's besides the point)  
> my mediocre writing skills have been much, much worse back in the day
> 
> pffffff i have this fic going, i'm going to participate in camp nanowrimo with an original fiction about ueda (and hideki), and i'm planning on starting a multichapter hamaizu fic  
> restriction is an unknown concept for me  
> well, time for me to try to polish my skills a little!
> 
> as usual, thank you so much for reading and all that!! ;w;  
> (gentle reminder that you are welcome to complain to me if i don't update weekly before mondays, either here or at my [tumblr](http://http://lukathorben.tumblr.com/))


	7. Old vs New

While the others buzzed about in the dugout chattering with each other, Mihashi was sitting on the bench, nervously glancing around. The charged atmosphere hung over the field and dugouts. He watched as the others walked around the small space, taking out their gloves and pulling them over their hands and looked over their old training field.

  ’’So the starting lineup has two new faces?’’ Hanai asked from Abe, who had his face sunk into the roster in his hands. Abe glanced at him, nodded, and turned back to the paper.

  ’’Hideki, the captain, and Fujimoto Hayato. Both are first years. Hideki plays right field and bats last while Fujimoto plays left and bats second.’’

  Hanai nodded and looked up over the field, seeing the other team’s captain standing in front of their dugout, looking much more serious now than a moment ago.

  ’’The other seven we know so we can somewhat predict them,’’ he said, ’’But it goes other way around, too.’’

  Neither of them said anything for a moment, staring at the names in front of them until Abe quickly put down the paper. ’’We’ll go with the original plan. Oki pitches until the fifth inning unless something unexpected happens, we’ll defend and attack well with our usual lineup. They have never seen Mihashi pitch before, so his pitching will be new for them’’, he said.

  ’’Hear that?’’ Tajima asked from Mihashi as he leaned over the bench’s back, a wide grin on his face, ’’You’ll be our secret weapon!’’

  Mihashi made his usual chirping sound as he nodded quickly, his glove in his lap.

  ’’Mihashi,’’ Abe called, ’’You should start warming up during the fourth inning.’’

  The blonde nodded again before Tajima demanded his full attention by swaying back and forth on his heels.

  ’’You think we’re gonna win?’’ Hanai asked Abe, who had picked up his chest guard and was in the process of putting it on. He glanced at the captain before answering, evaluating his expression.

  ’’Realistically speaking, I don’t know. We know most of their lineup and they know ours and they’ve developed during the time we’ve been gone. We, on the other hand, haven’t had any sort of coaching since we graduated. However, we have more experience.’’

  Hanai let out a short chuckle at the catcher’s long and detailed answer.

  ’’I was expecting a yes or no, but I suppose that works as well.’’

  ’’In that case... Yes. We’ll win.’’

 

\-----

 

’’Pitch with all you have’’, Abe said.

  Oki nodded in answer and jogged to the mound while Nishiura’s first batter came out of the dugout and moved to wait in the circle on the ground. After a few warming up pitches from Oki, the batter moved from the circle to the batter’s box. As Abe glanced up at him, he saw the familiar second year.

_   Himura Naoki, center field. He used to be sixth or seventh batter just a year ago. _

Abe shifted his weight after giving a sign to Oki, who nodded and started his pitching motion. In a second, the ball sunk into his mitt and he glanced up at Naoki, whose eyes were fixed on the ball. Before Abe could give another sign, Naoki pushed his blonde bangs off his forehead and took a deep breath.

  Another pitch later the count was at 2-0. Even though the count was against him, Naoki was calm. His eyes were fixed on the ball in Oki’s hand and his stance relaxed. On the third pitch he bunted successfully, getting to first base.

  Nishiura’s dugout cheered as Abe looked up at the next batter.

_ Fujimoto Hayato, left field. First year, no information._

’’Please,’’ Hayato said, short black hair sticking out under his helmet. Dark eyes glanced at Abe before moving to the mound.

Hayato went after the first pitch, swinging the bat with full force and whiffing. On the next pitch he made a sacrifice bunt, advancing the runner on first to second.

  ’’One out!’’ Abe shouted as he threw the ball back to the mound. He watched as the third batter, who was somewhat shorter than the two before him, walked into his box.

_ Nakano Sho, second base. Third year. Bunts and hits well, fast runner... We can’t let him on base before the cleanup._

  He glanced at Akihiko, who was already waiting in the circle, crouched down and supporting himself with his bat. When Abe crouched down, he dug up all the information from all the practices they had had together with Sho from his memory.

  Sho watched both the first and second pitch. On the third pitch he bunted the ball in front of Oki, who threw to first, getting the second out of the inning.

  ’’Ready’’, Akihiko said as he came to his at-bat.

_ Kita Akihiko, the cleanup and shortstop, third year. Gotta get him to strike out._

  The first pitch Abe signed for was a slider to the inside corner, as far out as possible but still a strike. From the corner of his eye, Abe saw some movement from Akihiko, most likely hesitation over to if he should go for the hit or not.

  The second sign was for an inside curve close to the bottom of the strike zone. Even though Akihiko could have easily hit it, he didn’t go for it. The third pitch was a clear ball, to which he didn’t react at all. He swung at the next pitch, a fastball close to the inside corner, striking out.

  As the fielders started towards their dugout Abe stood up and looked at Nishiura’s dugout. As usual, Momoe was standing in it, arms crossed across her chest. Next to her were Hideki and Ueda, leaning against the low fence. Hideki said something to the boy next to him, earning a scowl and an angry look in return. It disappeared, though, when he said something else while smiling almost sheepishly.

  When Momoe caught Abe looking, she smiled a little before the catcher could turn away and trot down into his team’s dugout.

_ They’ve definitely gotten better, that’s for sure._

After a couple of minutes, Izumi was standing in the batter’s box. The bull-like, black haired Tanaka was a familiar sight on the mound, as he had become Nishiura’s ace as soon as he had joined the team two and half years ago.

  ’’You think he’s gotten any faster?’’ Hanai asked from Tajima. Both of them were looking out of the dugout with the rest of the team, staring at the mound.

  ’’Akihiko said something like that’’, Tajima answered.

  ’’If he needs anything, he needs to be more cooperative’’, Abe commented from the side.

  ’’That’s thick coming from you,’’ Sakaeguchi laughed, ’’Neither of you refused to give in.’’

  ’’He was far too stubborn,’’ Abe said.

  ’’You’re one to say. Though you did cooperate in games.’’

  ’’Except that one time,’’ Hanai chuckled.

  ’’You mean the first practice game on our second year?’’

  The team’s reminiscing was cut short when Izumi struck out and he returned to the dugout.

  ’’I’d say his pitching is faster and more accurate’’, he said.

  After him was Nishihiro’s turn to bat. During their three years of high school, Nishihiro had trained more and more during each practice. He had gone from somebody who had just started baseball to a good player whose position on the starting lineup nobody questioned.

  The team watched from the dugout as Tanaka pitched, Ueda’s mitt giving a loudthwack as the ball sunk into it.

  ’’Not by much, but it is faster, isn’t it?’’ Mizutani asked, receiving a few hums in answer.

  The familiar crack of the bat ran through the air as Nishihiro hit a grounder between the the shortstop and third baseman, the ball bouncing off the ground to left field. The whole dugout cheered as he reached the second base safely.

  Suyama was next, slight nervousness in his step when he moved from the on deck circle to the batter’s box.

  ’’If we can just get Nishihiro to third base, Hanai can bring him home.’’

  The already tense atmosphere in the dugout seized up when Nishihiro reached third base with Suyama’s sacrifice bunt.

  ’’Nervous, Mihashi?’’ Tajima asked when Suyama returned to the dugout and Hanai moved to bat. He had put on his helmet, bat in hand, and was on his way out onto the field. He stopped behind Mihashi, who was leaning against the fence with the others.

  When Abe turned to look at the blonde, he noticed his whitened knuckles and thinned lips.

_ Is he nervous about batting?_

  ’’A-A little.’’

  Before Abe could open his mouth to say something to the blonde, Tajima piped up again.

  ’’Tanaka’s not the scariest pitcher I know’’, he said, ’’You can handle him.’’ He grinned widely before he practically leaped up the stairs, jogging out onto the field.

  When Abe glanced at Mihashi, he noted how the blonde’s appearance had relaxed a little. It took a second for Abe to call his name, asking for his attention.

  ’’Tajima’s right’’, he said, ’’You’ll be fine. You can just focus on pitching.’’

  ’’... O-Okay!’’ the blonde chirped.

  When they turned to look at the field again, they saw Hanai hit a grounder to right field. Nishihiro started towards the home plate not long before Nishiura’s captain caught the ball into his glove. Ueda stood up and threw off his mask, a small dust cloud scattering into the air from where it landed. He had his mitt in the air as he got himself ready to block Nishihiro.

  With a quick and powerful motion, Hideki threw the ball straight back home, Ueda’s mitt giving a loud smack as he caught it. Nishihiro attempted to touch the home plate, sliding straight into Ueda’s block. Even though the catcher was shorter than his teammates, he was strong and had his feet firmly planted on the ground.

  ’’Out!’’

  After both Ueda and Nishihiro had collected themselves off the ground, the latter clearly disappointed, it was time for the second inning.

  ’’Good job, short stuff’’, Hideki chuckled after he caught Ueda on his way to take off his gear.

  ’’Shut it, bean pole’’, the shorter boy huffed. He sounded pissed, but had a grin tugging the corners of his lips.

 

\-----

 

When the bottom of the fourth inning ended, Nishiura was in the lead with five to four.

  ’’Mihashi’’, Abe called as the announcer broadcast about the pitcher change.

  ’’Help me with my gear,’’ he said, putting on his chest guard.

  Mihashi sprung up from the chair he had been sitting on and hurried to grab Abe’s leg guards. He put one down as he started fumbling with the other, his hands jittery with nervousness.

  ’’We’ll be starting with the bottom of their lineup and we’ve seen them bat a couple of times already’’, Abe said and put on his helmet, glancing down at Mihashi who was now putting on his other leg guard. ’’You can do it.’’

    When Mihashi was done with his leg guards and stood up, Abe put out his hand. As Mihashi pressed his palm against his, he noticed the coldness of the blonde’s hand.

  ’’You can just trust my lead and pitch just like usual. You can do it’’, he said, hesitating a little before opening his mouth again, ’’We can.’’

  With that, the blonde nodded quickly and pulled back his hand.

  ’’We... c-can do it. T-Together.’’

  ’’Yeah,’’ Abe hummed, ’’Let’s go.’’

  While Mihashi threw a few warm up pitches from the mound, Abe glanced at Nishiura’s dugout, seeing the captain and the catcher leaning against the fence once again. They were joined by Akihiko and a few other players, who all followed closely Mihashi’s pitching.

  After a minute, the first batter took his spot in the box.

_ Hayashi Kouta. Third year, first base._

Kouta swung his bat a few times in the air, long hair tied to a ponytail almost moving onto his shoulder as he did so. He was a good hitter, as proven by the run he had gotten off of Oki two innings ago.

When Abe signed for Mihashi, he didn’t see any exceptional nervousness from him, just his usual timid appearance. He watched as the blonde nodded and stretched out to pitch without any hesitation. As he had guessed, Kouta watched the first pitch. After all, he could afford it.

  On the second pitch, he moved his bat to bunt only to have the ball fly off into a foul.

  When Abe took a look at his face, he saw the familiar confusion the batters had when facing Mihashi’s pitches for the first time. He smirked to himself as he returned the ball to the mound and signed again.

  On the third pitch Kouta successfully bunted the ball and got tofirst. Nishiura’s dugout cheered again as the next batter came to bat.

_ Watanabe Yuuto, third base and third year.  We need to get an out from him if we want to end the inning with the bottom of their lineup._

  When Yuuto watched the first pitch without even a little bit of movement, even when he was not one to do so normally, a thought came to Abe.

  Has Momoe ordered them to watch Mihashi’s pitches?

When Yuuto didn’t swing at a slider near the middle, Abe’s suspicions were confirmed.

  In that case we’ll show them as few pitches as possible.

Abe signed for a curve to middle right, a pitch that would go from a ball to a strike. When the ball sunk into his mitt without Yuuto trying to swing, he mentally sighed a little bit out of relief.

_ Of course she’d notice something’s up. ... As long as we get an out from either Tanaka or Ueda, we can end this inning with the next three batters. Fortunately the captain is a near certain strikeout._

 

\-----

 

When Hanai’s bat cracked loudly, the whole dugout seemed to inhale as one. They silently watched as the ball flew up into the air, continuing far out towards the fence. Nishihiro was the first one to start cheering when the ball landed just outside of the fence,resulting in the first and only home run of the game. The dugout practically exploded as Suyama stepped over the homeplate and Hanai jogged around the field, smiling widely.

  Tajima sprung up onto his feet in the on deck circle, forgetting his own bat on the ground. When Hanai jogged through the homeplate, immediately turning towards his team’s dugout, Tajima caught him before he could reach the others. The shorter boy leapt up onto Hanai, wrapping both arms and legs around him. He was forced to drop off, though, since Hanai almost fell under Tajima’s sudden weight.

  Others ran out of the dugout onto the field to join the two, celebrating their victory.

 

\-----

 

’’Mihashi’’, Abe called, ’’Wait for a few minutes and I’ll help you stretch.’’

  ’’Yeah!’’ the blonde chirped quickly, a bottle of water in his hands.

  Abe left the others to finish their cool downs and stretching while he headed back towards the field. He glanced at the students stretching out on the field in one large circle as he headed towards Momoe, who was watching over them.

  ’’Hello’’, she said as she noticed Abe. Judging by the look on her face, she knew something was up.

  Abe returned her greeting, silent for a second before bringing up his question.

  ’’What’s your opinion on Mihashi?’’

  Momoe’s lips curled up into a devious smile.

  ’’Your new pitcher, right?’’

  When Abe nodded, she spoke again.

  ’’A peculiar pitcher. Timid in personality but surprisingly steadfast’’, she said, ’’Highly accurate, if I saw correctly, but not exactly fast.’’

  ’’About so. He can be a... handful, sometimes.’’

  ’’Where did you find him?’’

_   Oh, I walked into his house, drunk, and crashed on his couch. Probably gave him a heart attack in the morning. _

’’... Long story. Met him by chance.’’

  Momoe looked curious, but didn’t pry further.

  ’’By chance, huh... You like him? Working together with him?’’

  ’’If you mean to ask if he’s stupidly stubborn, no.’’

  ’’I assumed so, as he never seemed to shake off your signs’’, she chuckled, ’’... Do you trust him?’’

  ’’... I do.’’

  Momoe carefully studied his expression, trying to catch something that apparently wasn’t there. She sighed a little bit through her nose and crossed her arms across her chest.

  ’’You shouldn’t go back to your bad habits’’, she said, ’’You should trust him and his judgment, just as much as he should trust yours.’’

  ’’I won’t.’’

  ’’Good. I assume that wasn’t all you wanted to ask?’’

  ’’... As I said, he can be a handful. I don’t know how to talk to him and half the time it feels like the things I say go to deaf ears.’’

  The smirk on Momoe’s lips widened a little.

  ’’He can’t be much more difficult than anyone else. Talk to him, ask questions.’’

  Abe nodded, slightly disappointed that Momoe hadn’t offered him much more than he had already thought about.

  ’’... You could form an excellent battery with him.’’

  To be honest, Abe wasn’t sure how he should have answered.

  ’’Go ahead, he’s waiting for you’’, she chuckled as she glanced behind Abe for a second.

  After Abe had said his goodbyes and received one more ’congratulations’ in response, he turned around to jog back to the others. Mihashi was waiting for him on the side of the field, somewhat nervously messing with his shirt.

  When Abe helped Mihashi stretch, he did his best to follow Momoe’s advice.

  ’’How did you like the game? Playing in it, I mean.’’

  ’’I... liked it’’, Mihashi answered, his voice muffled by the ground as he leaned his upper body forward between his legs.

  Abe was still surprised by how far the blonde could stretch, his fingers going further and further along the ground with each push to his shoulders.

  ’’I l-like pitching... so...’’

  ’’You going to pitch during winter?’’

  ’’... I... don’t know.’’

  Annoyance rose up again as Abe felt the conversation die out again after just a few sentences.

  ’’We-,’’ Abe started, suddenly remembering their school’s sports hall.

  ’’You know the tennis fields at our school?’’

  ’’I-Inside the h-hall?’’

  ’’Yes, those. We could reserve one a couple of times a week. You could pitch there.’’

  As Abe let Mihashi straighten up and sit properly, he could see the blonde’s brightened face.

  ’’R-Really?’’

  Abe nodded, feeling how the blonde’s overflowing enthusiasm started to rub off on him.

  ’’We have to reserve one in advance though. There might not be free space for a week or two.’’

  It was painfully visible how Mihashi’s joy died down a little.

  ’’It shouldn’t be that cold outside for a couple of weeks, you can still pitch outside,’’ Abe said, ’’And I can catch for you.’’

  ’’Yeah!’’ Mihashi chirped.

  ’’But right now you need to stretch,’’ Abe chuckled, ’’Give me your arm.’’

  It was surprisingly easy to delight the blonde, judging from the way his awkward smile had widened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i've finally gotten somewhat used to the rhythm of updating weekly, which is nice!  
> and of course all my thanks to julia for betaing and correcting all my dumb mistakes! (do accept my offering of all the uedeki you want pff)  
> it feels weird updating a fic (somewhat) weekly, but i enjoy it a lot, as it kind of forces me to write a lot more and actually make a habit out of it.
> 
> as usual, thank you for all the kudos and comments and everything!! ;w;


	8. Aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> somewhat late and i am sorry for it! (completely my own fault) i'll try my best to get out the next update in time, as i really don't want to start slipping on a schedule i want to have.
> 
> okay!! in short the next update will be around the first weekend of may!  
> i won't be updating sbb next week due to multiple reasons. reasons include actually having to finally drag my ass through schoolwork pLUS wanting to complete at least one of three different hamaizu projects and finally get it/them out of my head and some other smaller things.

When Mihashi and Abe were heading back towards the others, the catcher walking in front, the silence between them was almost unnerving to Abe. Talking might have not been his strongest suit, but at least he tried.

_ No, Mihashi tries too... I think. It’s just that... we have nothing to talk about. Besides baseball, anyways. _

 The catcher was still mulling over his thoughts when the two of them stepped out of the gate which led out of the field. As his attention was fixated somewhere else, he didn’t see the boys chattering a short distance away at first.

 ’’Hey, Abe!’’

 Tajima’s shouted words caused Abe to lift his face from the ground. Besides Tajima, he saw Hanai, Hideki and Ueda, all standing in a small circle on the gravel path.

 ’’Where are the others?’’

 ’’Went to see the old clubhouse,’’ Hanai said.

 Abe nodded, glancing over his shoulder to see that his pitcher had actually followed him. The blonde had indeed done so and was now standing behind him, glancing between him and Tajima, sometimes glancing over at the unfamiliar duo in front of him. Abe wasn’t completely sure which of them would have been more intimidating to Mihashi.

 Hideki, who was almost as tall as Hanai, even though he was three years younger, glasses shading over his face and plain light brown hair standing up in tufts from wearing a cap and a helmet, his green eyes following closely what happened around him.

 Well, Ueda was probably more intimidating. Though the boy was shorter than Mihashi, he was probably almost twice as wide as the blonde, brows furrowed to a scowl that sometimes seemed permanent, hands crossed across his chest. With black hair and dark eyes the intimidation factor was amplied multiple times.

 The scowl on his face didn’t change much when he opened his mouth to speak.

 ’’You guys did well,’’ he huffed and turned to look at Mihashi, ’’You were... Mihashi, right?’’

 The blonde was clearly surprised by the sudden question addressed to him, but answered with a quick nod.

 ’’Considering it was your first game with them, you were okay too,’’ he said, catching the distinct contrast between his words and what he had meant to say immediately. ’’No- no. Not okay, but, like-,’’ he stammered, Hideki cutting him off before he babbled on too long.

 ’’He means that you pitched well,’’ Hideki chuckled.

 Mihashi nodded again, his thumb digging into the strap of his bag. ’’T-Thank you,’’ he said.

 ’’It’s the truth.’’

 Before the conversation’s topic could change, Mihashi hurried to answer, his eyes falling to the ground for a second before turning back to Hideki. ’’Um..! Y-You, you pl-played well, too.’’

 The corners of Hideki’s eyes wrinkled as he smiled.

 ’’Thanks,’’ he answered, ’’We should get going, though. I don’t want Tanaka yelling at me again for taking too long.’’

 As the group started walking away from the field and towards the clubhouse, Abe waved Ueda over. They lagged behind the others to be mostly out of hearing range.

 ’’What is it?’’ Ueda asked.

 Abe didn’t answer, instead opted to furrowing his brows as usual. Ueda sighed through his nose, Abe didn’t speak even after calling him over and looking like he really needed to say or ask something.

 ’’... I heard you didn’t try out for the team,’’ Ueda said, ’’I do remember you saying that you would, though.’’

 It was Abe’s turn to sigh heavily.

 ’’After seeing the ace once-,’’ he huffed, ’’No.’’

 ’’Was he that bad?’’ Ueda chuckled.

 ’’If you mean worse than Tanaka on his worst day, then yes.’’

 Ueda grimaced and made a sympathetic sound.

 ’’Understable,’’ he huffed.

 ’’I’m not going to deal with another pitcher like that. Two are more than enough,’’ Abe said, ’’I’ve had enough of trying to work in a battery with a pitcher who just... doesn’t want to.’’

 ’’Tanaka always preferred you,’’ he continued after a moment of silence.

 ’’You think you can make it work with Mihashi?’’

 ’’I... don’t know. Yes, maybe. Hopefully,’’ Abe answered, ’’He’s different kind of difficult.’’

 ’’No confidence in himself?’’

 ’’Little to nothing.’’

 Both of them fell silent after that, following the four walking in front of them. Tajima was going on and on about something to Hideki, sometimes turning to Mihashi, who either nodded or said a word or two. A couple of times Hanai seemed to correct something Tajima had said, causing the shorter boy to glance at him with a slight scowl, which was returned with an innocent smile bordering a smirk.

 ’’I think you can make it work,’’ Ueda said, ’’What’re you up to, though? Convince him to try out for the team with you?’’

 ’’Yeah.’’

 ’’ _ If  _ you can make it work.’’

 ’’That’s the plan.’’

\-----

 After the team had boarded the bus to go back home, claiming the seats in the back to them, Tajima sat up from his seat to turn back towards the others. He leaned against his chair, propping himself up with his knee on the seat.

 ’’Hey, Sakaeguchi!’’ he called, catching the attention of the boys.

 ’’Yeah?’’

 ’’You think we can go to your family’s cabin again this year?’’ he asked, ’’Near Christmas!’’

 ’’Most likely. I’ll ask.’’

 ’’Today!’’

 ’’Yeah, yeah. You’ll be the first one to know.’’

 With that, Tajima huffed, content with Sakaeguchi’s answer, and sat back down next to Mihashi. The others behind them continued whatever they had been doing until the boy’s interruption.

 ’’His family has this, huge mansion out of the city,’’ Tajima explained to the blonde, ’’Well, not really huge or mansion, but you know. Big enough to fit all of us.’’

 ’’We went there last year as well in fall for a couple of days, we had this arm wrestling competition too and of course Hanai won ’cuz he likes his strength training a little too much, and we played games all night, Sakaeguchi’s console overheated and we had to stop and ended up playing cards the rest of the night, it was a lot of fun so I thought that we could go again and this time you could come as well.’’

 ’’Yeah!’’ the blonde chirped, ’’It s-sounds fun!’’

 Tajima grinned at the blonde, somehow not losing his breath over all the speaking he did.

 ’’You wanna come watch a night game with me?’’ he asked, ’’There’s one extra ticket after Oki had to cancel, it’s on the next Friday. Hanai, Abe, Hamada and Izumi are coming too.’’

 Mihashi looked down for a second, trying to remember if he had anything else to do then.

 ’’I’ll come t-too!’’

 ’’Okay! Hanai has all the tickets so we don’t need to worry about losing them.’’

\-----

Mihashi’s fingers brushed down Abe’s palm as the blonde took back his hand, returning it back into his glove.

 ’’So you’re coming to watch the game?’’ Abe asked, taking his own glove from under his arm, where it had been tucked away while the two did their meditation practice.

 ’’Y-Yeah.’’

 ’’Okay,’’ Abe nodded. The conversation was dying on him before even starting.

 ’’... Ever been to one?’’

 ’’A... couple... of times.’’

 ’’When was the last time?’’ the catcher asked. It was easy enough to ask Mihashi questions, but it didn’t exactly feel like a ’conversation’. Just him asking a bunch of questions and the blonde answering them. Besides, if the topic was anything else besides baseball, he had no idea what to say or ask.

 ’’Maybe t-two years... ago.’’

 Abe nodded, placing his mask on top of his head, about to pull it on.

 ’’We’ll take it easy today,’’ he said and took his position in front of the fence after the blonde answered with a nod.

 It didn’t take long for Mihashi to pitch little over twenty pitches, only the thwacks of Abe’s mitt sounding in the air between them.

 ’’That’s enough for today,’’ Abe said as he took off his mask and stood up, walking over to the blonde, ’’No pain or anything anywhere?’’

 ’’N-No,’’ the blonde answered as he took the ball from Abe, tucking it away into the large pocket of his hoodie.

 ’’About Friday,’’ the catcher huffed, ’’We’ll probably grab something to eat before the game, so you probably should take some money with you. There should be some place near enough. ...You have any suggestions as what to get?’’

 ’’... Meat?’’

 The blonde’s suggestion took Abe by surprise at first, quickly turning to mild amusement.

 ’’Okay,’’ he chuckled, ’’Meat it is.’’

\-----

’’So what’re we gonna eat?’’ Hanai asked as they stepped off the bus, throwing his bag over his shoulder. Each of them had their bags with them filled with some necessities as they’d spend the night at Hamada’s parents’.

 ’’Dunno,’’ Izumi answered.

 ’’Something quick or we’ll be late,’’ Hamada said, looking at his phone in his hand.

 ’’Meat.’’

 Hanai stared at Abe for a second before chuckling a little, smile lingering on his lips.

 ’’Okay, sure. We’ll just go to the convenience store and each buy what we want. We can eat in the stadium.’’

 After locating the nearest store and each buying both food and drinks, they went to the stadium and weaved through the people to find their seats. Fortunately, it didn’t take too long for them to find their seats behind the third base and settle down. A moment later the game started.

 ’’So your little sister is out?’’ Izumi asked from Hamada, who was stuffing his face with the last bits of his food.

 ’’Yeah, she’s having a sleepover with some of her friends.’’

 ’’You sure we all fit? There’s six of us, you know.’’

 ’’If we wouldn’t, mom wouldn’t have promised anything.’’

 ’’Good. I just don’t want for all of us to sleep in your bed or something.’’

 ’’Ah,’’ Hamada laughed, ’’That would be something.’’

 While the two continued their chat, Mihashi was completely focused on the mound. He watched as the pitcher wound up, stayed still for a second and stepped forward with a quick and powerful motion, the ball disappearing into the catcher’s mitt. The ball was quickly returned back to the pitcher, who moved to wait for his sign.

 ’’Would you want to play on a stadium like this?’’ Tajima asked from Mihashi over Hanai, as the blonde was sitting between Abe and Hanai.

 ’’Y-Yeah!’’

 ’’Really? We’d need to play in actual teams first, though.’’

 ’’Not an impossible idea,’’ Hamada commented from the side.

 ’’Oh, yeah! Mihashi said that he got his first glove from you, why’s that?’’

 Even though the question wasn’t directed at Abe nor did it involve him, it did pique his interest. He glanced at the blonde, who was still busy with following the pitcher’s each movement.

 ’’Mihashi,’’ he called, breaking Mihashi’s intense concertation, who turned to look at him instead of the mound.

 ’’You got your first glove from Hamada?’’

 ’’Y-Yes.’’

 ’’How come?’’

 ’’When I... I l-lived back at the creaking rust villa,’’ Mihashi started explaining, glancing at Abe every so often, ’’We- we played together and wh- when I... moved away, he- he gave it to me. It was... small for h-him.’’

 ’’A gift?’’

 A quick nod with a small sound from the blonde.

 ’’How long  you’ve known him?’’

 ’’S-Since I was small.’’

 ’’You played baseball together?’’

 ’’Y-Yeah. All the kids- together. I moved on s-second grade. We didn’t see... each other since.’’

_ So they didn’t see each other since. ...Would they have met if not for... me crashing his couch? _

 Maybe they would’ve, maybe not. In any way, it was a thought that didn’t matter much in the moment.

 ’’We p-played a lot, almost... every day.’’

 Abe was almost surprised by the fact that the blonde talked more without needing him to ask. He didn’t say anything, though.

 ’’I... liked it- a lot.’’

 ’’... You like playing now?’’ Abe asked, ’’With us.’’

 The blonde was silent for a moment, thinking. Then, he smiled. Not one of his crooked half-smiles, but one that actually was easily recognizable as a smile.

 ’’Yeah!’’

 Mihashi glanced away for a moment, hands balled up nervously, before turning to face Abe again.

 ’’I l-like playing with- with you! When y-you catch... for me!’’

 It would be an understatement to say that Mihashi’s words caught Abe off guard.

 He stared blankly at the blonde, then turning to back to the field, his hand raising to cover the lower hand of his face. He huffed to himself, his thumb digging into his cheek. He could feel an uncomfortable tingle rise up the sides of his neck, the skin of his face suddenly feeling warm against his palm.

 ’’Good,’’ he huffed into his hand, barely audible to the blonde. ’’Good.’’

 ’’You’ll get to play a lot more, though,’’ he continued after a moment of silence between them, filled with the sounds of the game and other spectators.

 ’’W-Will you... catch?’’

 ’’Yeah, sure, if...’’ Abe started, stopping for a moment before he could trail off completely, ’’Yeah. I will.’’

 The first inning ended before the catcher was comfortable enough to move his hand from his face.

\-----

’’It’s been a while, Mihashi!’’ Hamada’s mother said as they appeared through the door.

 ’’Yoshirou told me about you, and how you still play baseball,’’ she continued, exchanging a few words with Mihashi as the boys took off their shoes.

 ’’The futons are all in Yoshirou’s room, put them down as you want. Me and dad are going to sleep soon, and oh, there’s still something left to eat in the fridge if any of you is hungry!’’

 Hamada glanced at the others, receiving either blank looks or mild head shakes in return.

 ’’No thanks, mom, we just ate’’, he said as he led the others towards his room, ’’We’ll probably be going straight to sleep.’’

 ’’Okay, in that case good night.’’

 The boys returned her words before disappearing from her sight.

 ’’There’s the bathroom’’, Hamada said as he passed a door and pointed at it, ’’And here’s my room. Put down the futons wherever you want, it’s gonna be a little cramped anyway.’’

 In a matter of few minutes, the futons were laid down next to each other, leaving little to nothing between and covering practically the whole floor. It didn’t take long for them to change into their pyjamas neither, as most of them were yawning every few minutes.

 They were waiting for Abe to come back from the bathroom, lying down on their futons or as in Hamada’s case, in his bed, when Tajima rolled to his stomach, almost kicking Hanai as he did so.

 ’’So what did you think of today’s game?’’ he asked.

 ’’Good’’, Izumi mumbled, his voice muffled by his pillow and blanket, which he had pulled up to his neck.

 ’’You think we could-’’, Tajima continued, pausing for a second as Abe opened the door to the room and came back in, ’’You too, Abe, you think we could do this again? With the others as well.’’

 ’’Come watch a game?’’ Abe asked as he plopped down onto his futon.

 ’’Yeah.’’

 ’’We can’t stay here for the night then,’’ Hamada said, ’’Otherwise yes.’’

 ’’We could catch a bus back or something, if there goes any late enough, and-’’

 ’’Tajima’’, Hanai called, ’’At least I want to sleep. We’ll plan this some other day.’’

 ’’Fine,’’ Tajima said as Abe stood back up to turn off the lights.

 The room fell silent as the boys covered themselves with their blankets, trying to fall asleep.

 ’’We-,’’ Tajima piped up after a moment, only to receive a sloppy kick to his thigh from Hanai.

 ’’Later,’’ he huffed.

 ’’Tomorrow.’’

 ’’Yeah, just... Sleep, please.’’


	9. Snow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> back into the swing of things! around 97.562 % of my assignments are done (hooray!), except my thesis (boohoo!) so i should be a lot more stress free now haha.  
> (*not so subtly kicks their own ass for being a dumb fuck and not doing them like a year back when i was supposed to*)  
> anyways....
> 
> thank you for all the comments even though i had no idea how to answer ;w; (and my answer would've been like... three days late........... i'm sorry!)  
> all your support, be it a comment or a kudos, is greatly appreciated (and makes me very very embarrassed), so thank you and have a great day!!

It was Izumi who woke up first the next morning.

 As he squinted his eyes and rolled to his side, he noted that all the others were sound asleep. A glance to the alarm clock on Hamada’s night stand told him that it was little over nine in the morning. He could hear faint sounds from other parts of the house, echoing in the hallways. He must’ve nodded off again, as the next time he noticed the time it was much closer to being ten.

 Once he decided that it was enough sleep at least for him, he stretched a bit before moving his blanket away. With careful, quiet steps he stood up and walked between the futons on the floor to Hamada’s bed. He flicked the boy to his temple, causing him to grimace before cracking his eyes open with a low grunt. Before he could say anything, Izumi gave him a look to keep quiet and pointed at the clock. He watched as the blonde sighed almost painfully, intending to roll onto his side to go back to sleep. BeforeHamada could do that, though, Izumi huffed and  grabbed the blanket and pulled it off him.

 With Hamada’s blanket in Izumi’s arms, the blonde curled up into a ball in an attempt to stay warm.

 ’’Get up,’’ Izumi whispered, keeping  a tight hold of the blanket. He waited as the blonde slowly threw his legs off the side of the bed and onto the floor to sit up. After he had rubbed his eyes a couple of times Izumi threw his blanket back onto his bed, beckoning for him to follow as he walked out of the room with quiet steps, Hamada following soon after.

 ’’G’mornin’,’’ Hamada huffed as the door clicked shut behind them, his words answered with a huff.

 A short while after the two had left the room, it was Abe’s turn to crack his eyes open and squint at the light pouring into the room behind the curtains. He sat up, letting his blanket fall off of him, looking around the room and noticing that two of them were missing. Guessing that they had woken up and already left the room, he followed after deciding to let the others sleep.

 When the door clicked shut behind Abe, it was Tajima’s turn to open his eyes. He stretched lusciously. His left hand almost hit Hanai to the face when he relaxed. Looking around, he noticed that the only people still in the room besides him were Hanai and Mihashi.

 ’’Mihashi,’’ he called, waiting for a reaction. Receiving none, he tugged on the blonde’s blanket, which eventually woke him up. When the blonde opened his eyes to look at Tajima with droopy eyes, the freckled boy smirked. With a kick, he threw himself half onto Hanai, who jerked awake when Tajima poked his side.

 ’’Wake up, I’m hungry,’’ he huffed, watching as Hanai covered his eyes with his forearm and sighing.

 ’’Food, Hanai, food!’’

 ’’Yeah, yeah. Just a second.’’

 Satisfied with Hanai’s answer, Tajima jumped up onto his feet next to Mihashi, who tried to rub the sleep out of his eyes. Tajima strode over to the window and pulled the curtains open, hearing Hanai groaning in anguish behind him. He turned around, his hands on his hips, waiting for the sleepy duo to slowly pick themselves up.

 When all three of them were more or less awake, Tajima led them to the door, opening it wide. As he turned around the corner, he noticed Izumi coming from the kitchen.

 ’’Oh, you’re awake. Breakfast is ready in a minute.’’

 After he turned back to head back into the kitchen, Tajima practically skipped after him, followed by less cheerful Hanai and still sleepy Mihashi.

 ’’-- said that we can go to the cabin on the 28th and then stay the night,’’ Abe said, his voice carrying into the hallway, ’’Isn’t that Izumi’s birthday? The 29th?’’

 ’’Yeah,’’ Hamada answered, his eyes shooting up from the food on the table to the boys walking into the room.

 When Tajima noticed Abe sitting in front of the food, he suspiciously eyed up the other boy.

 ’’I touched nothing, it’s edible,’’ Abe said, ’’You all should reserve the 28th and 29th of November, we’ll be going to Sakaeguchi’s family cabin then.’’

 The other boys nodded; Abe and Hanai both made a mental note to remind them again in the future and to tell the others as well.

 It only took a couple of minutes before Hamada’s mother appeared with the last dish, setting it down as the boys sat down around the table.

 ’’Looks good!’’ the boys practically yelled as Mihashi jumped slightly at the sudden sound and looked on as the others immediately dug into their food.

 ’’L-Looks... good,’’ he muttered under his breath and begun hoarding food for himself before it was all gone.

\-----

A couple of weeks later Mihashi, Abe, Sakaeguchi and Hanai had hogged their usual seats in the back corner of the classroom, waiting for their physics professor to burst through the door.

 Mihashi, who sat in the very corner, the others sitting on the desks surrounding his as per usual, was rummaging his bag for his eraser as the others chattered on.

 ’’So how’re we gonna get to there?’’ Hanai asked.

 ’’We should be able to get a ride from my family, but we need others as well,’’ Sakaeguchi answered.

 ’’So one or two cars more?’’

 ’’Yeah.’’

 ’’Shouldn’t be that much of a problem. Pretty sure mom is up for it.’’

 ’’My parents have plans, so no from me,’’ Abe commented from the side.

 ’’I- I can ask,’’ Mihashi piped up.

 ’’Great,’’ Sakaeguchi smiled, ’’It would help a lot.’’

 With that, Hanai and Sakaeguchi sunk into a conversation about the movie shown on TV last night, receiving comments here and there from Abe.

 When Mihashi finally found his eraser from the black hole that was his bag, he put it on the table with his other supplies and glanced out of the windows at the barren trees. It wasn’t too cold yet, but it soon would be. When Mihashi got up in the morning and headed to class, he needed his jacket to keep him warm during the short walk to school, while in the afternoon when classes ended, he could carry it in his hands instead.

 Fortunately, it wasn’t too cold to pitch outside.

 Mihashi moved his gaze from the windows to the black haired boy sitting in front of him, wondering if he’d have the time today.

 ’’A-Abe,’’ he called, piquing the boy’s attention.

 ’’Do you h-... time today?’’

 Abe wasn’t that sure what the blonde had meant, but he figured it had something to do with pitching.

 ’’Pitching practice?’’ he asked, receiving a nod from Mihashi.

 ’’Yeah. If we go right after school, it shouldn’t be too cold yet,’’ he continued, watching as the blonde’s face brightened a bit with his agreement. ’’After school?’’

 ’’A-After school.’’

\-----

It was when Mihashi gave Abe’s ball back to him that the black haired boy piped up.

 ’’The game we had against our old school,’’ he started, ’’You remember the pitcher? Tanaka?’’

 When the blonde nodded in answer, he continued.

 ’’What did you think of him?’’

 ’’F-Fast. Good. Hits... well.’’

 ’’And hell to work with. He might have fast pitches and hits at least decently, but his personality often sucks,’’ Abe said and seemingly sighed a little, ’’He didn’t like me much nor did he like forming a battery with me.’’

 When Abe noticed the slightly confused, though interested, look on Mihashi’s face, Abe couldn’t help but wonder where he was going with this again.

 ’’During the two years we worked together, we... didn’t ’click’ properly. Ever. On the field we did our jobs but outside of it we practically avoided each other.’’

 Mihashi didn’t make a sound, instead opted to listening quietly, his hand still in his glove.

 ’’And before he came to the team was Oki, who you obviously know-,’’ Abe said as his brows furrowed as he remembered the pitcher who he worked with before Nishiura, ’’And before him was Haruna. He, well, he was somewhat similar to Tanaka. A bit more hostile, I suppose. At the beginning I had multiple bruises from his pitches.’’

 According to Mihashi’s face, he was still following.

 ’’I guess you could say we hated each other’s guts. I was persistent, though. I couldn’t catch his pitches in the beginning, but it didn’t take that long for me to be able to, and we formed a battery. We still didn’t care much for each other and I hated his attitude. He used to have a pitch limit and never went over it, no matter the situation.’’

 When Abe noticed the slightly furrowed brows on Mihashi’s face and guessed that the blonde’s capacity to follow was slowly starting to fill, he crossed his arms over his chest and let out the small sigh that he had been holding in.

 ’’What I’m trying to say, in short; I’m glad I met you. I’m glad that I can form a battery with you.’’

 Mihashi’s furrowed brow rose up to a slightly confused look. In a few seconds the blonde was smiling, seemingly trying to contain it figuring from the way he pressed his lips together and his free hand balled up into a fist. He seemed to almost shake in place.

 ’’I’m... glad! A-As well!’’ he sputtered.

 Abe couldn’t help the smile that appeared on his lips. The blonde was radiating happiness at this point and there was no way he would be interrupting it.

 Later, when Abe was on his way home, he couldn’t help but smile again when he thought about the blonde’s words.

\-----

About two months, many classes and dozens of pitching practices later, it was time to leave for Sakaeguchi family’s cabin.

 All eleven of them were standing at the school gate near the dormitory, small bags and backpacks over their shoulders, excitedly chattering as they waited for their ride to appear. When the three cars had arrived, they crowded around them, throwing their bags into the trunks and stuffing themselves into the seats.

 Two hours and many narrow roads later, they arrived.

 ’’You have the keys, right? You remember how everything works?’’ Sakaeguchi’s mom asked from her son, fretting a little over him, ’’You remember the way?’’

 After Sakaeguchi had reassured his mother that yes, he had the keys and he remembered, the three mothers that drove them said their goodbyes and watched as a line of boys and a girl disappeared from their sight.

 ’’It’s further than I remember,’’ Tajima said, fixing the plastic bag filled with food in his hand. Everybody had at least one plastic bag in addition to their luggage.

 ’’It’s less than a kilometer,’’ Sakaeguchi laughed.

 ’’Still,’’ Tajima grumbled behind him.

 About five minutes or so later the cabin appeared. It looked a bit old but well kept and was made of large logs. The outside and the roof had a bit of moss on them. The area around the cabin was cleared and there were smooth rocks laid out in the ground to make a small space to most likely put a table and chairs onto. The cabin was large enough to more or less comfortably fit all of them, as proven by the spacious inside as they walked in. With a flick of few switches on a small panel, the lights flickered on.

 ’’Leave the food outside for now, we’ll put them in the fridge when it cools,’’ Sakaeguchi instructed.

 ’’When are we gonna eat?’’ Tajima asked.

 ’’Later.’’

 After discovering that besides Chiyo, Mihashi was also capable of actually cooking food, the kitchen and cooking was designated to the two of them with some minor help from the others. While they cooked, the others would clean out the place and put out the futons and other things that would definitely pop up.

 A few hours later, when it had started to get dark, they were finishing up their meal.

 ’’Snow!’’ Tajima yelled suddenly. He jumped up and ran to the window.

 Suyama made a sound as he walked up next to him, noticing the thin blanket of snow on the ground. It must’ve snowed for a while now, since there was already a couple of centimeters of it.

 ’’We’ve gotta have a snowfight!’’ Tajima insisted.

 ’’With so little snow?’’ Hanai asked, ’’Hard, if not impossible.’’

 ’’Snow. Fight.’’

 ’’At least let it pile up a little,’’ Sakaeguchi laughed.

 The rest of the night was spent with washing the dishes and taking out the game consoles and cards hidden in the closet while constantly looking outside if there was enough snow for a snowfight. Mihashi was buttonsmashing his way to fourth victory in a row when a sudden thunk was heard. All of them looked at each other, wondering where the sound had come from, when the sound came again.

 Tajima had sneaked out and was throwing snowballs into the window.

 In a matter of minutes, all of them were outside, shoes and jackets sloppily on.

 ’’We’ve gotta make two teams!’’

 A couple of minutes later the teams were formed, one having Tajima, Mihashi, Hamada, Sakaeguchi, Nishihiro and Izumi and the second having Hanai, Chiyo, Abe, Suyama, Oki and Mizutani. The teams had three minutes to form a barricade before the war would begin. While Sakaeguchi disappeared into the storage, Tajima, Mihashi and Hamada made snowballs. When Sakaeguchi appeared with a large plastic table, he was received with some complaints before he told that the storage door was now open and Suyama and Oki disappeared into it.

 In a moment Tajima’s team, whose self-proclaimed captain he was, had readied their barricade and ammunition, soon followed by Hanai’s team.

 ’’Do we have any rules?’’ Mizutani asked.

 ’’The first rule is that there are no rules,’’ Izumi answered.

 When the countdown finished, Hamada started to pass snowballs to Mihashi, who was standing up behind their barricade and aimed for anybody who dared to pop their head out.

 Time passed with multiple headshots from Mihashi, loud yelps echoing when the cold snow sneaked into their clothes and scooping up the little snow that had fallen and throwing it at the enemies. Both teams suffered casualties when Mizutani opted to quit because Tajima ran across the small distance between the barricades, carrying a lapful of snow and dumping it all on unsuspecting Mizutani who then disappeared inside to get out of his clothes. Tajima himself ended up as a hostage on the other side. Nishihiro and Hamada did try a rescue operation, but failed when they received the same treatment Mizutani had gotten and running back to their team.

 ’’I think it’s time to quit!’’ Hanai yelled after most of the snow had been scooped up, his words received with a disappointed sounds.

 Tajima wasn’t quite satisfied, however. He ran up to unsuspecting Hanai and jumped up at him, effectively tackling him to the ground. Hanai yelled when the freckeld boy smirked and scooped up the little snow that was left and jammed it into Hanai’s neckline, half of the snow ending up in his hood and half ending up melting in his clothes. When Hanai managed to get a hold of Tajima, he gave the same treatment him.

 It didn’t take long for them to quickly gather back inside and to change. Their wet clothes were laid out to dry on the chairs and whatever that was free.

 A couple of hours later they gradually started to get sleepy, though they didn’t go to sleep before a pillow fight had broken out, from which Mizutani emerged as a victor. Their futons were jammed into one large room, close to each other, the lights turned off and some of them already asleep or near sleep.

 ’’Mihashi,’’ Tajima called quietly, the blond opening his eyes to look at the freckled boy. ’’Are you glad that you came?’’

 Mihashi nodded a couple of times, smiling a little bit again, receiving a wide smile from Tajima in return.

 ’’Next time we’ll be on the same team again!’’

 ’’Y-Yeah!’’

 ’’The team that Mihashi is on automatically wins,’’ Hanai whispered a comment.

 ’’We’re friends, so of course we’re on the same team!’’

 ’’Aren’t we all friends here?’’ Hanai yawned, seemingly ready to fall asleep.

 ’’But we’re different, we’re good friends!’’ Tajima said, receiving a hum from Hanai as an answer. He turned back to Mihashi when Hanai seemingly drifted off, smiling at the blonde.

 ’’We’ll win next time, too!’’

 Mihashi hummed and nodded quickly, Tajima smiling widely at his answer.

 ’’It’s a promise, then,’’ Tajima said and yawned, the sleep getting a hold of him as well. ’’Night.’’

 ’’N-Night.’’

 In a matter of minutes, all twelve of them were sound asleep, the snow continuing to fall outside.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> since i've planned for this fic to end somewhere around the fall of their second year, i'm going to end up skipping a lot if i don't want to make a fic with 150 chapters.... and i'm not up to write 150 chapters hhhhhh  
> like so far this has spread out over about four months already????? like w ow  
> well i don't even have that much creativity to fill a year with different events and write them all out so ffffff
> 
> .... i've already got my next oofuri project set after this jfc.


	10. Awkward

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alrighty. after almost a year (a little over nine months to be exact) i'm updating this again.  
> i could give like at least ten different reasons and/or excuses, but i won't.
> 
> for those who are still somehow here after all that time, thank you so much!  
> it's good to be back writing about my precious babies again, though idk when the next chapter will be out (hopefully in a month or so.... before summer...... or something)  
> i'm sorry if there's any inconsistencies between the older chapters and this one, that's entirely possible...........
> 
> anyways! i kinda hope i'm back better than ever, but at least as good as i was before and hopefully not worse.  
> i'm going to see this goddamn fic to the end i swear to god.

The next morning, Abe was sitting on the kitchen table. He had dug his fingers into his unwashed hair, the other one resting on the cool wood in front of him. He was nodding off every now and then as he waited for breakfast to be prepared.

 

 Or, well, the leftovers of last night to be reheated and served on the table.

 

 Hanai was sitting one seat away from Abe, far less drowsy than him. No matter, he had been banished from the kitchen by the trio that scurried between the dining room and the kitchen.

 

 Every few minutes, either Mihashi or Hamada brought out plates and other utilities, food or drinks. Chiyo's voice could be heard a couple of times too, usually asking one of them to help her out with whatever she had at hand.

 

 In the next fifteen minutes, the whole group had slowly gathered into the dining room for breakfast. After Izumi, who was the last one to crawl out of bed, had plopped down onto his seat, the trio emerged from the kitchen with the last plates and bowls, setting them down onto the table.

 

 The drowsy voices that had chattered nonstop until now quieted abruptly and the only sounds in the room were the clattering of the chairs. When all of them were seated properly, they begun eating.

 

 For the most part they were silent, focusing on the food. Abe exchanged a few sentences here and there with Sakaeguchi who sat beside him. When he was halfway through his meal, the brunet jabbed his elbow to his side, earning a glare. Sakaeguchi smiled sheepishly before nodding to Mihashi's direction, who had seated himself across from him.

 

 Mihashi was staring at him.

 

 As soon as his stare was met by Abe, the blonde's eyes dropped back to his food. "He's been doing that for a while now", Sakaeguchi whispered before returning his attention to his own food and Suyama beside him. From then on, Abe paid more attention to Mihashi. After a bit of waiting, the blonde turned to look at him again, only to immediately meet his gaze.

 

 Mihashi jumped in his seat, breaking their eye contact  immediately. For a second the blonde had looked like a deer in the headlights, and now he had hidden himself behind his bowl of rice.

 

 Abe could feel his frustration rise. No matter how many times he had told the blonde to say what was on his mind, he still hid things from him. For a few weeks Abe had thought that they’d gotten over the awkward silences and even more awkward exchanges of words, but apparently he’d been wrong. He poked his food angrily, his brows scrunching to a scowl.

 

 As time passed, the ones who had finished eating left the table taking their utensils with them to the kitchen. When only a few remained, Abe and Mihashi included, the blonde quietly called out to Abe. As he raised his eyes from his plate to meet the blond’s gaze, the latter jumped slightly. Figuring he was probably still scowling harshly, Abe did his best to look more reassuring. ’’What is it?’’ he asked.

 

 ’’Um-’’, Mihashi started, licking his lips. The pitcher’s eyes ran back and forth between Abe and and the food laid out in front of him. Abe had learned the hard way that the best way to deal with Mihashi’s uncertainty was to simply wait, sometimes helping him along a little. ’’If- if you’re not... e-eating those-’’, Mihashi said, nodding towards the plate of egg rolls the catcher had hogged to himself and tasted, but hadn’t liked too much, ’’Can I have them?’’

 

 Abe blinked once, then twice. ’’If y-you’re going to eat them, I-!’’ Mihashi hurried to say after a few seconds of silence, pulling the other out of his trance. ’’ You can have them’’, he said quickly, pushing the plate across the table to Mihashi. ’’Go ahead’’, he mumbled, confused, wondering if that’d simply been it. Had that really warranted the awkward staring, the timid demeanor, Abe didn’t know.  He shook his head a little, snorting a laugh.  _ Whatever.  _ The blonde was already shoving the egg rolls into his mouth before Abe would change his mind and demand to have them back.

 

 Before Abe could notice it, he and the blonde were the only ones left on the table. ’’You two are in charge of washing the dishes, then’’, Izumi said as he picked his own dirty plates from the table and took them to the kitchen. The others would clean up everything else, as they had to leave the place in the same condition they’d arrived in.

 

 Abe waited on the table for Mihashi to finish eating, playing on his phone the few minutes it took for him to finish gobbling down the last bits of his food. ’’You full?’’ Abe asked when he set down his chopsticks, getting a warm smile and a nod in answer. ’’Let’s wash the dishes, then.’’

 

 It didn’t take long for them to set down a rhythm. After putting the very last bits of the leftovers to the trash, Abe washed the dishes while the blonde rinsed and set them to dry. With the two of them it took only about an half an hour or so to finish.

 

 ’’You guys done?’’ Sakaeguchi asked, popping his head into the kitchen as the pitcher was putting the last glass to dry and Abe was draining the dirty water. ’’Yeah!’’ Mihashi answered, giving the towel he’d just used to the catcher. ’’Good. And Mihashi, Tajima was looking for you.’’ After that, the blonde scurried away from the kitchen to the rooms they’d stayed in to look for the freckled boy.

 

 ’’So-’’, Sakaeguchi started, leaning lightly against the door frame, ’’What’d he want?’’

 

 ’’What, Mihashi? At the table?’’ the other boy answered, drying his hands on the towel and looping it through the handle of the cabinet to dry. ’’He just wanted to know if I was eating my egg rolls’’, he said, shrugging a little. The brunet snorted, barely keeping back his laughter. ’’That’s it?’’

 

 ’’That’s it.’’

 

 ’’Huh’’, the other boy hummed, nodding contently. ’’I take it my advice helped?’’ he asked, the corners of his lips lightly curved into a smile.

 

 ’’... More or less.’’

 

 Sakaeguchi smiled, pushing himself off of the door frame. ’’Good, then. You should believe me more often’’, he said. ’’You still have that thick skull even after all these years, you know.’’

 

 ’’Shut it’’, Abe shot back, a light laugh emerging in answer. 

 

  ’’You know I’m right’’, the brunet said.

 

\-----

 

There was only a few days until Christmas when Abe was sitting in class, Sakaeguchi next to him, their desks pushed together for the small pair task they’d been given. Every now and then, Abe was glancing over at his phone, hidden from the sight of his professor behind his pencil case.

 

 ’’Who’s the lucky one?’’ Sakaeguchi asked teasingly, his chin propped against his palms. He chuckled quietly when the other boy gave him a look. ’’Seriously, you’re keeping tabs on it like it’s going to grow legs and run.’’

 

 Abe took a second to watch for any funny business the brunet might have been up to, then huffed a small breath. ’’... Mihashi.’’

 

 ’’What, pitching?’’

 

 ’’Yeah.’’

 

 ’’Do you ever talk to each other about anything else  _ besides _ baseball?’’

 

 ’’Sure we do’’, Abe said, his answer met with a blank look from the brunet. ’’... Not really.’’

 

 ’’And how long have you known each other, exactly?’’

 

 It took a couple of seconds for the catcher to count the months. ’’About... half a year? A little more?’’

 

 Sakaeguchi covered his face with his hand, groaning something along the lines of ’lord have mercy’ under his breath. ’’More than half a year. And all you two talk about is  _ baseball _ .’’ he muttered agonizingly, ’’Half a year.’’ He sighed, the other boy silent as he collected himself before letting his hand fall off of his face. ’’Abe. Do yourself a favor,  _ please _ , and at least  _ try _ to talk about something else.’’

 

 ’’Why should I-’’, Abe started but was cut off by the brunet. ’’Do you even know his favorite color? Favorite food? Anything he does with his spare time?’’ For a second, the catcher tried to come up with answers to his questions. ’’If you don’t at least know his favorite color by Christmas I’m never talking to you again.’’

 

\-----

 

The even drumming of nails was the only sound in Abe’s room. He was sitting on the kitchen table, staring at his phone lying between stacks of homework. He shifted his position, now leaning forwards on the table instead of against the back of the chair, still tapping his fingers against the wood. He wasn’t too sure how long he’d been doing just that.

 

 He sighed, shifted his position again and checked the time. He’d been staring at the unsent message for five minutes now. Could he really just send the message like this, without any warning? It took five more minutes of silent thinking before Abe reached out to his phone and quickly pressed ’Send’. As soon as he had done that, he was already regretting it.

 

 He had had plans to pitch with Mihashi for the evening, but they’d gotten interrupted by the pitcher’s essay due the next day. In a way, it had been a relief. Instead of suddenly trying to make small talk with Mihashi face-to-face, he could try to talk with him through messages.

 

 The message he’d just sent had been a simple question on what were Mihashi’s and his family’s plans for Christmas. Nothing too daring for starters.

 

 Now that the deed was done, instead of wracking his brain over if he should send the message or not he was impatiently waiting for response. Assuming he hadn’t scared him off. Maybe he shouldn’t have sent that message, maybe Mihashi thought he was weird or invasive or -

 

 His phone jingled and the catcher nearly knocked over the stacks of homework as he swooped in to grab it. He bit his lip as he read the name of the sender - Hanai. He grumbled quietly, answering the captain’s question about homework due on the 25th.

 

 After sending Hanai an answer, he huffed a small breath, somehow embarrassed by his own reaction. To try and forget it, he picked up his pencil case and started working on his own homework. Not long after, his phone jingled again. Assuming it was an okay and thank you message from Hanai, he didn’t check it. Immediately after, though, the jingle rang through the room again. A little annoyed by the double message, he picked up the phone to put it on silent. Instead, he saw an answer from both Hanai and Mihashi.

 

 Hanai’s message, as expected, was a simple thank you. Mihashi’s, on the other hand, was much longer. He really didn’t want to admit it to himself, but Abe was surprised by how long the blond’s message actually was. He’d expected a sentence or two at best, but instead he’d gotten a full paragraph at least.

 

 In his message Mihashi told that he’d cook together with his mother after his dad would come to get him, that his mom would bake a cake and he’d get to decorate it and they’d eat and celebrate together, and in the evening they’d exchange presents. Abe chuckled to himself a little as he read the message, imagining how happy the blonde would be to get to stuff himself with delicious food and cake.

 

 Lastly, Mihashi asked about Abe’s own plans. The catcher stared at the question for a couple of seconds before starting to type out an answer, not fully aware of the smile on his lips.

 

 Later that evening, Abe sent a message to Sakaeguchi with just the two words: ’Light blue’.


	11. New Years

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> //prayer hands emoji  
> i'm so sorry i never thought i'd do anything like this

A week later, it was the evening before the new year. Abe was typing out a message to Mihashi, tailing his mother in the small corner store where they were picking up some groceries they'd forgotten to buy the last time.

 

  “Do you remember how much milk we had, Takaya?”

 

  The boy shot up his eyes from his phone, catching his mother’s gaze with his own. “What?”

 

  His mother made a sound between a laughter and a scoff. “Just who are you texting?” It was a rhetorical question and the boy knew it, so he abstained from answering. Instead, he opted to raise a brow into a quizzical look.

 

  “Milk”, his mother said, shaking the carton she'd picked up lightly. “I don't remember how much was left.”

 

  “Buy one just in case?” the boy answered, his words between a flat-out statement and a question. As soon as his mother's attention was back in her shopping list, he continued typing. His fingers moved quickly across the keys, a lingering smile curling his lips.

 

  The last time he’d seen the blond was two days ago. It had been their last pitching session this year, and they'd taken full advantage of the excuse for Mihashi to pitch more. They had separated with wishes for a happy new year and an unsaid promise to play again as soon as they could. In fact, Abe was texting him to try and plan their next meeting right now.

 

  Before he'd realized it, Abe and his mother had gone through the store and were in line to pay. His mother handed him the reusable bag as she started placing their purchases on the conveyer. He quickly finished his message and sent it before moving to pack up. When he felt the vibration of his phone tucked away into his pocket, his hands worked faster.

 

  In a minute, the items were neatly in the bag. When Abe’s mother turned away from the cashier, she gave him a surprised look. “Did you pack properly?” she asked before peeking into the bag. “Of course”, he answered, already fishing out his phone. He noticed the look his mother was giving him, even as she attempted to hide her smirk with her hand. “What?” he asked, his voice grumpier than he'd intended. “Oh, nothing”, she answered cheerfully.

  


\---

  


The new year celebrations were going smoothly, the days passing by.

 

  Abe was sitting at the desk in his room at his parent’s house, waiting for his family to get ready for the shrine visit. He was doing some initial research for one of his essays - or he was supposed to be. In reality, he was idly scrolling through the web pages as he counted the hours until his father would drive him back to the university. After all, Mihashi would be back there tomorrow morning, and they could practice for the first time that year. It was a great excuse to play for longer than they normally did.

 

  When his mother's voice rang through the house, he slammed shut his laptop. He was up on his feet in a second and at the front door in another.

 

  “Watch the step - it's slippery”, his father said, pulling his own shoes on as his son passed by him.

 

   When Abe had seated himself in the car, he felt his phone vibrate once - a message.

 

**From: Ren Mihashi**

Happy New Year!!

We're going for our

first shrine visit of

the year now. I

cooked with mom.

It was good.

 

  Abe smiled. When Mihashi was the first one to send a message - which wasn't the most common occurrence - this kind of message was typical from him. Before he could start writing an answer back, his mother called his name. He wiped the smile off of his face by running his tongue over his teeth and immediately put on his best poker face.

 

  “Dad is driving you back tonight, right? After dinner?”

 

  The boy answered with a nod. His mother continued asking different questions, so he decided to leave answering to the blond’s message to a later time.

 

\---

 

By the time that Abe and his family had gotten back from dinner and his duffel bag was packed, he still hadn't answered to Mihashi's message. He threw the bag over his shoulder, letting it fall against his side and hip, securing it in place with his hand.

 

  “You're leaving now?”, his mother asked as he passed the living room.

 

He could see his father get up from the corner of his eye. “Yeah”, he answered.

 

  “See you soon, then. Message me when you get there. And stay warm! It’s icy out there.”

 

  Abe pulled on his shoes and grabbed his jacket, placing it atop his bag. He would be sitting in the heated car for a while, so he didn’t need to wear the jacket just yet. His dad followed suit, going out of the door before him. As he slipped out the front door, Abe said his goodbyes. The air outside was chilly, but not uncomfortably so; he noticed some sparse snowflakes falling out of the sky. The young man realized now was his chance to answer that message so he looked down and took out his phone. As his focus moved from the icy step, he felt his foot slip. Abe attempted to rebalance himself, but fell down on his right arm. There was a sharp pain in his elbow, and he listed a string of curses as he rolled over to sit on his legs. He curled up, fingers clasped around his right arm. The boy was gasping for air, biting and swallowing down a painful yell.

 

\---

 

By the time the sun had set, Abe had yet to answer Mihashi. The blond glanced at his phone every now and then, afraid he'd just missed the catcher’s answer.

 

  Maybe he'd said something wrong? Upsetting? His lips thinned into a line as he thought that. No. … Maybe. Nevertheless, the only thing he could do in that moment was wait.

 

  And so he did.

 

  By the time he was about to go brush his teeth, his phone finally chirped. Cautiously, he took the device into his hand, bracing himself for a second before opening the message.

 

  ‘Sorry’.

 

  That was all it said. Confused, the blond stared at the single word displayed on the screen. When the phone suddenly rang, he nearly dropped it in surprise.

 

  “Hello!” he answered before he'd even checked the caller ID. The line was silent for a few seconds, quiet shifting sounding in the background.

 

  “Hey, Mihashi.” Abe. The blond flabbed his mouth open and closed a few times, his words escaping him. Why did Abe send him a message that just said ‘sorry’? The blond’s imagination was running a mile a minute even before what the brunet said next.

 

  “I don't think I can catch for you for a while”, the boy sighed on the other end of the line.

 

  “Ah- you! I!” Mihashi exclaimed, holding his phone now with both his hands. He still didn't know what to ask or say.

 

  “Ah, well- I fell. And kind of… broke my elbow”, the catcher said, his voice tired and somewhat unsure.

 

  It felt like he’d been kneed to his stomach. Mihashi’s mouth hung slightly open, no words or sounds coming out. His knuckles were whitening as he grasped his phone tighter. But - he had more important things to worry about than his pitching practice in immediate future.

 

  “A-Are you okay?” the blond asked quietly.

 

  “Yeah. Hurts a little, though. The doctor said that the bone cracked cleanly - it should heal up just fine. I just can't use my throwing arm at all for the next few weeks… probably for a few months.”

 

  Mihashi was standing in front of his desk, processing the information given to him. Both of them were quiet, though the pitcher could hear the catcher’s father speaking on the other end of the line and Abe’s muffled answer.

 

  “... Sorry.”

 

  “No! It's n-not your fault”, the blond hurried to answer, stuttering slightly. “It's not li-like you can't play ever a-again.”

 

  “I was a little unsure if I should call you at first. But... “, the catcher said, his words trailing off at the end. “I'll ask if Tajima can catch for you. It should work out on the weekends at least.”

 

  “... Thank you”, the blond answered quietly. He didn't know what to say. He'd been at a loss for words for the whole call, which frustrated him. It didn't help him find anything to say, though.

  


\---

  


The next time the catcher saw Mihashi was two days later as he walked into class. The blond had hogged his usual seat at the back of the room. He was lying on top of the desk, his face hidden behind his arms, and he was possibly asleep.

 

  “Morning”, Abe said as he got close to the blond. The pitcher’s head snapped up, amber eyes locking with his for a second. Neither of them knew what to do or say.

 

   “So, what happened to you?” Sakaeguchi asked from the next desk over

 

  “Fell. Broke my elbow a little.”

 

  “Isn't that your throwing arm?”

 

  “Yeah. Should heal up fine soon enough.”

 

  “Don't you dare try anything with a broken bone. This isn't the same as your knee back in high school”, Sakaeguchi said seriously, turning to the blond next to him. He was pointing to the still standing catcher. “Can you believe that this guy injured his knee on our first year and barely let it heal at all? He nearly forced himself back into the game. Probably would've if not for our coach.”

 

  The blond stared at the sitting boy next to him, intrigued by the new information. He wasn't that surprised by what the catcher had done back then, though; Mihashi probably would have done the same. He turned to look at his desk, hiding a snicker behind his hand at Sakaeguchi’s story..

 

  “I thought he'd walk right back onto the field even with that injury”, Sakaeguchi continued, exaggerating his words in a theatrical fashion. That got the blond to laugh again. With it, Sakaeguchi returned back to his textbook with a self-satisfied smile.

 

  Abe sat down on the desk in front of the blond, taking out his books from his bag - extremely awkwardly. He had no clue how he'd be taking notes, either.

 

  “If y-you want to, I can copy my notes f-for you.”

 

  The catcher turned sideways to look at the pitcher behind him, seeing the look on his face. They were both dancing around the injury and the main issue with it and both of them knew it. “... Thanks.”

 

  “N-No problem.”

 

By lunch break, Abe had told the tale of his injury a bunch of times. Or, well, just said the two words that explained it all: “I fell”.

 

  Abe had already finished his food with Mihashi and now they just waited for the rest of their group to finish. Mihashi had whipped out his notebook and markers - he was in the process of color coding the titles. The brunet was idly scratching his skin under the cast, staring in front of him and lost in thought.

 

  “How come your cast is clean? I thought that everyone would've already doodled it full”, Hanai asked between mouthfuls of food.

 

  “Even if they wanted to-”, the catcher started, noticing the blondes look from the corner of his eye. The pitcher had perked up considerably, a marker still in hand and eyes shining. “I'm not an elementary school kid-”, he continued, but stopped midway. He saw how the blond shrunk back into himself, deflating like a popped balloon. He could've sworn that the blond shrunk in size.

 

  If he'd had been alone, he'd have groaned loudly while dragging his hands down his face. Instead, he just covered half of his face and sighed. “Fine”, he mumbled, moving his casted arm closer to the blond on the table. “You can draw on it.” The blond gave him a surprised look, clearly unsure if he should do it. “I'll change my mind if you won't do it.” With that, the blond was quick to start, taking out at least half a dozen different markers from his pencil case.

 

  “How long it'll take to heal?” Hanai asked after a moment of silence.

 

  “The doctor said I can start gently moving it in a few weeks. It should be about normal in four months and full strength hopefully back in half a year, but-”, the catcher started, his words cut short by the look the captain gave him.

 

  “You should listen to him. He knows that stuff far better than you.”

  
  Of course he was right, but he really wanted to recover as soon as possible. Mainly for himself, but also for the blond who seemed to be even more down by his injury than the cacher himself. As he watched the blond doodle away on his cast, he sighed. For the first time in a while, he had absolutely no clue what to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> how could i do this i trusted myself
> 
> and also, i've written over 30k words for this and we haven't gotten a n y where i swear i write the mothers of slow burns lmao  
> at this pace this will end up as a 100k word fic and by that the best i'd manage is probably one (1) blushy moment smh
> 
> also in case any of y'all feel the need to scream at me to never touch abe ever again more personally, i have twitter now!! i am a grandma trying to figure out how it works tho lmfao  
> under same name as here and if you want a straight link it's under my profile
> 
> here's to hoping that this will not end up as a fic that never gets anywhere


End file.
